UC-NI 


B    3    111    553 


. 


GIFT    OF 
EVGENE 


THE 


MEMORIAL   ADDRESS 


OF 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS, 


OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 


ON 


THE    LIFE,  CHARACTER,  AND    SERVICES 


OF 


WILLIAM  E.  SEWAKD. 


NEW    YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 


549  &  551  BROADWAY. 

1873. 


WILLIAM  H.   SEWARD'S 


As  written  in  his  own  words,  and  completed  a  lew  days  befon 
his  lamented  death,  giving  the  record  of  Travels,  and  his  Political] 
Social,  Moral,  and  Philosophical   Observations   and   Reflections] 
together  with  his  Interviews  and  Talks  with  Presidents,  Kings] 
Emperors,    Sultans,  Khedives,   Tycoons,   Mikados,   East    India: 
Potentates,  and  His  Holiness  the  Pope.     Crossing  nearly  all  th( 
Mountains,   Rivers,   and  Oceans  of  the  Globe,  Mr.  Seward 
received  in  the  countries  which  he  visited  as  no  private  tourist,, 
has  ever  before  been  received  in  all  history,  accompanied  by  the,} 
largest  demonstrations    of   respect,  Emperors   and   Kings  vying 
with  each  other  in  extending  courtesies  due  only  to  the  most  dis-r 
tinguished  guests,  furnishing  to  his  countrymen  the  evidence  of  the 
exalted  position  he  occupies  in  the  world's  regard. 

It   is  the  most   elegantly  printed  and   illustrated   Book   of 
Travels  ever  issued  from  the  American  Press. 


¥HE  ENGRAVINGS, 

Representing  the  places,  people,  scenes  and  customs  of  all  the 
countries  visited  by  the  Eminent  Traveller — of  which  there  are 

O"VEPl      T  W  O      H  TJ  3XT  3D  IR,  E  T>  , 

Including  sixty  full-page  illustrations,  and  an  accurate  Portrait 
on  Steel — have  cost  the  Publishers  about  $15,000. 


Price,  in  Cloth,  $5.00;    Library  Leather,   $6.00;   Half  Turkey,  $7.50; 
Full  Turkey,  $10.00. 

For  Notices  of  the  Press,  see  3d  and  4th  pages  of  Cover. 


THE   ADDKESS 


OF 


CHAELES  FRANCIS  ADAMS, 


OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 


ON 


THE    LIFE,   CHARACTER,   AND    SERVICES, 


OF 


WILLIAM  H.  SEWABD. 


DELIVERED  BY  INVITATION  OF  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF  THE  STATE   OF 
NEW  YORK,  IN  ALBANY,  APRIL  18,  18T3. 


NEW    YORK: 

D.     APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

549  &  551  BROADWAY. 

1873. 


4-  ADDRESS  OF 

conversation  was  that  such  a  person,  ruling  in  a  constitu 
tional  state,  had  not  yet  been  seen.  More  than  two  thou 
sand  years  have  elapsed  since  this  testimony  was  recorded, 
and  the  solution  of  the  problem,  with  the  added  experience 
of  an  historic  record,  embracing  the  lives  of  sixty  generations 
of  the  race,  far  more  widely  observed  over  the  globe,  is  still 
to  seek.  Has  there  ever  been  such  a  man  ? 

Without  attempting  to  enter  upon  such  a  topic,  demand 
ing  a  lifetime  of  research,  it  may,  perhaps,  be  permitted  to 
me  to  observe  that  from  what  we  may  learn  of  the  career  of 
all  those  who  have  since  been  competitors  in  this  noblest  of 
human  pursuits,  it  is  possible  for  us  to  deduce  some  general 
laws  of  human  action  valuable  to  bear  in  mind.  Praying 
your  pardon  for  my  boldness,  I  would,  then,  venture  to  sug 
gest  that,  by  a  comparison  of  the  multitude  of  examples,  we 
may  readily  reduce  them  all  to  a  classification  consisting  of 
three  forms.  The  first  and  lowest  of  these  embraces  all 
those  lives  in  which  power  has  been  exercised  mainly  for 
personal  ends,  with  little  regard  to  the  public  good.  If 
called  to  give  an  example  of  this  class,  I  should  name  the 
noted  Cleon,  of  Athens,  as  delineated  so  forcibly  by  his  con 
temporaries,  Thucydides,  the  historian,  and  Aristophanes, 
the  dramatist.  But  this  type  of  a  public  man,  called  a 
demagogue  in  a  democracy,  does  not  change  its  essence  by 
transfer  to  more  absolute  forms  of  government.  The  inter 
ested  flatterer  of  the  people  simply  puts  on  a  laced  coat  and 
becomes  the  courtier  of  a  monarch  or  any  other  sovereign 
power,  one  or  many.  Cleon,  stimulating  the  passions  of 
the  Athenians  to  the  massacre  of  the  male  population  of 
Mitylene,  was  only  working  for  his  own  influence,  just  as 
Ashley  Cooper,  Lord  Shaftesbury,  stimulating  the  treacher 
ous  policy  of  the  Second  Charles  in  Great  Britain, 

"  The  pillars  of  the  public  safety  shook  ;  " 

and  just  as  Immanuel  Godoy,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  by  his 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  5 

selfish  counsels  precipitated  the  fall  of  the  pitiful  Charles 
of  Spain. 

This,  then,  is  the  class  which  works  the  fall  of  nations. 

The  next,  and  second  division,  includes  those  who  with 
pure  motives  and  equal  capacity  address  themselves  to  the 
work  of  maintaining  the  existing  state  of  things  as  it  is. 
Their  aim  is  to  reenforce  established  ideas,  and  confirm  an 
cient  institutions.  Of  this  style  I  would  specify  as  exam 
ples,  Cicero  in  antiquity,  Sir  Robert  "Walpole,  Cardinal 
Mazarin,  Prince  Kaunitz,  in  later  times. 

2.  This  is  the  class  which  sustains  nations. 

The  third  and  last  division  consists  of  those  who,  pos 
sessing  a  creative  force,  labor  to  advance  the  condition  of 
their  fellow-men.  Of  such  I  find  a  type  in  Pericles,  in 
Gregory  I.,  and  in  Cardinal  Richelieu. 

3.  This  is  the  class  which  develops  nations. 
Measuring  the  life  of  WILLIAM  HENRY  SEWARD  by  this 

scale,  I  have  no  scruple  in  enrolling  his  name  in  the  third 
and  highest  class.  In  my  mind  his  case  bears  analogy  to 
that  of  Pericles,  with  this  difference,  that  the  sphere  of  his 
action  was  one  by  the  side  of  which  that  of  the  other  dwin 
dles  into  nothing. 

On  this  occasion  it  is  not  my  design  to  follow  the  com 
mon  course  of  a  purely  chronological  narrative.  It  would 
absorb  too  much  time  ;  besides  which,  that  work  has  been 
already  well  done  by  others  who  have  preceded  me.  It  will 
suffice  to  state  that  Mr.  Seward  was  born  with  the  century, 
and  issued  from  the  college  at  Schenectady  at  the  age  of 
nineteen.  Three  years  passed  in  the  customary  probation 
of  a  lawyer's  office  gave  him  his  profession,  and  one  year 
more  found  him  married.  In  the  wTords  of  the  sagacious 
Lord  Yerulam,  he  had  "given  hostages  to  fortune,"  and 
very  early  "assumed  impediments  to  great  enterprises, 
whether  of  virtue  or  mischief."  Prom  that  moment  he 
could  hope  to  enlarge  the  basis  of  his  imperfect  education 


6  ADDRESS   OF 

only  by  snatching  what  he  might  out  of  the  intervals  of 
rest  in  a  busy  life.  Hence  it  becomes  proper  to  assume 
that,  in  the  just  sense  of  the  word,  Mr.  Seward  was  never  a 
learned  man.  In  the  ardor  with  which  he  rushed  into 
affairs,  the  wonder  is  that  he  acquired  what  he  did.  To  his 
faculty  of  rapid  digestion  of  what  he  could  read,  he  was  in 
debted  for  the  attainments  he  actually  mastered.  For  it 
should  be  further  remarked  that,  though  he  faithfully  ap 
plied  himself  to  this  profession,  it  was  not  an  occupation 
congenial  to  his  taste.  On  the  contrary,  he  held  it  in  aver 
sion.  He  felt  in  himself  a  capacity  to  play  a  noble  part  on 
the  more  spacious  theatre  of  State  affairs.  His  aspiration 
was  for  the  fame  of  a  statesman,  and,  in  indulging  this  pro 
pensity,  he  committed  no  mistake. 

The  chief  characteristic  of  his  mind  was  its  breadth  of 
view.  In  this  sense  he  was  a  philosopher  studying  politics. 
He  began  by  forming  for  himself  a  general  idea  of  govern 
ment,  by  which  all  questions  of  a  practical  nature  that  came 
up  for  consideration  were  to  be  tested.  This  naturally  led 
him  to  prefer  the  field  of  legislation  to  that  of  administra 
tion,  though  he  proved  equally  skilful  in  both.  Almost 
simultaneously  with  his  marriage,  he  appeared  ready  to 
launch  into  the  political  conflicts  of  the  hour.  Commencing 
in  this  small  way,  he  rose  by  easy  degrees  into  the  atmos 
phere  of  statesmanship.  I  distinguish  between  these  condi 
tions,  not  to  derogate  from  either.  In  our  past  experience 
there  have  been  many  politicians  who  have  not  become 
statesmen.  So,  also,  there  have  been  statesmen  who  were 
never  politicians.  Mr.  Seward  was  equally  at  home  in  both 
positions.  But,  inasmuch  as  this  made  up  the  true  career 
which  he  followed,  I  am  driven  to  the  necessity  of  consider 
ing  it  almost  exclusively.  And,  while  so  doing,  I  am  also 
constrained  to  plunge  more  or  less  deeply  into  the  Serbonian 
bog  of  obsolete  party  politics.  I  am  not  insensible  to  the 
nature  of  the  difficulties  under  which  I  labor  in  an  exposi- 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  7 

tion  of  this  kind.  On  the  one  side  I  run  a  risk  of  trying 
your  patience  by  tedious  reference  to  stale  excitements,  and 
on  the  other  of  raking  over  the  ashes  of  fires  still  holding 
heat  enough  to  burn.  All  I  can  say  in  excuse  is  that,  in 
my  belief,  no  correct  delineation  of  the  course  of  this  emi 
nent  leader  can  be  made  without  it.  Permit  me  only  to 
add  a  promise  that,  in  whatever  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  say,  it 
will  be  my  endeavor  to  be  guided  by  as  calm  and  impartial 
a  spirit  as  the  lot  of  humanity  will  admit.  Happily,  my 
purpose  is  facilitated  at  this  moment,  by  the  fact  that  the 
passions  which  so  fiercely  raged  during  the  period  I  am  to 
review  are  in  a  measure  laid  asleep  by  the  removal  of  the 
chief  cause  which  set  them  in  motion. 

The  political  history  of  the  country  under  its  present 
form  of  government  naturally  divides  itself  into  two  periods 
of  nearly  equal  length.  The  first  embraces  the  administra 
tion  of  the  first  five  Presidents,  and  the  settlement  of  the 
principles  upon  which  a  policy  was  guided,  as  well  at  home 
as  abroad.  But,  by  reason  of  the  almost  continuous  embar 
rassments  occasioned  by  the  violent  conflicts  then  raging 
over  the  entire  Continent  of  Europe,  the  agitation  of  par 
ties  had  its  chief  source  in  the  conflicting  views  of  foreign 
rather  than  domestic  questions.  Hence  it  came  to  a  natural 
end  with  the  reestablishment  of  a  general  peace.  The 
foundation  of  parties  having  failed,  there  followed  an  inter 
val  of  harmony,  which,  at  the  time,  was  known  by  the  name 
of  the  "  era  of  good  feelings." 

Suddenly  there  sprang  up  a  contest,  wholly  new  in  its 
nature,  the  first  sound  of  which  the  veteran  Jefferson,  in  his 
retreat  at  Monticello,  likened  to  that  of  a  fire-bell  at  night. 
The  Territory  of  Missouri  wished  to  be  organized,  and  ad 
mitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State.  An  effort  was  made  to 
affix  a  condition  that  negro  slavery  should  not  be  permitted 
there.  The  line  of  division  between  the  free  and  the  slave- 
holding  States  was  at  once  defined,  and,  for  a  time,  the  bat- 


g  ADDRESS  OF 

tie  was  fonglit  in  the  halls  of  Congress  with  the  greatest 
pertinacity.  With  equal  suddenness  the  quarrel  was  ap 
peased  by  the  adoption  of  a  proposal  denominated  "  a  com 
promise,"  and  matters  seemed  again  to  settle  down  in  a  re 
sumption  of  the  era  of  good  feelings.  The  general  election 
for  the  presidency  followed.  The  evidence  of  the  complete 
disorganization  of  parties  was  made  visible  in  the  multipli 
cation  of  the  candidates.  Five  aspirants  were  brought  for 
ward  by  their  respective  friends,  four  out  of  the  five  from 
the  slave-holding  States.  In  this  state  of  distraction,  it  was 
not  unnatural  that  the  single  candidate  from  the  free  States 
should  have  an  advantage.  He  was  elected.  But  four 
years  later  appeared  a  very  different  state  of  things.  The 
slave-holding  States  had  then  concentrated  on  their  most 
popular  candidate,  and,  forming  an  alliance  with  a  large 
section  of  the  popular  party  in  the  North,  they  effected  a 
complete  establishment  of  their  power.  Here  is  the  origin 
of  the  division  of  parties  which,  prevailed  for  more  than 
thirty  years.  But  it  should  be  noted  that  this  was  predi 
cated  upon  the  basis  of  what  was  called  "  the  compromise  " 
established  by  the  Missouri  question,  and  a  consequent 
tacit  understanding  that  the  subject  of  negro  slavery  was  to 
be  as  much  excluded  from  political  discussion  as  if  it  did 
not  exist.  The  great  State  of  New  York  had,  by  a  divis 
ion  of  its  electoral  votes,  contributed  little  or  nothing  to 
the  triumph.  But,  after  the  decisive  result,  an  organization 
followed,  which,  by  pledging  itself  to  the  fortunes  of  the 
new  dynasty,  succeeded  in  maintaining  its  ascendency  for 
many  years.  This  claimed  to  be  the  popular,  or  Demo 
cratic,  party.  In  opposition  were  soon  arrayed  the  class, 
in  the  free  States,  leaning  to  conservative  opinions  in  all 
questions  connected  with  the  security  of  property ;  and 
with  them  were  combined  under  the  leadership  of  an  emi 
nent  statesman  of  the  West,  Henry  Clay,  so  much  of  the 
population  of  that  section  as  united  under  his  banner. 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  9 

This  was  finally  known  as  the  Whig  party.  It  follows 
from  this  statement  that  the  issues  made  between  these  par 
ties  were  mainly  confined  to  superficial  questions  of  man 
agement  of  the  public  affairs  or  the  construction  of  Federal 
powers.  Hence  it  happened,  singularly  enough,  that,  for  a 
considerable  period  of  time,  the  disputes  were  turned  in  a 
direction  which  had  no  reference  whatever  to  the  most  seri 
ous  part  of  the  policy  upon  which  the  Government  was  se 
cretly  acting.  That  policy  was  the  extension  of  the  slave- 
holding  power  by  gaining  new  territory  over  which  to  spread 
it.  For  it  should  be  observed  that,  while  a  profound  silence 
was  observed  at  home,  the  new  Administration  had  not  been 
long  settled  in  its  place,  before  secret  agencies  were  set  in 
motion,  through  the  diplomatic  department,  to  procure  ex 
pansion  in  the  direction  in  which  this  object  could  be  the 
most  easily  effected.  This  pointed  southwest  to  Texas, 
then  forming  a  part  of  the  Mexican  Republic. 

Such  being  the  state  of  things  at  the  outset  of  Mr.  Sew- 
ard's  career,  the  first  thing  necessary  for  him  to  do  was  to 
choose  his  side.  Under  his  father's  roof  the  influences  nat 
urally  carried  him  to  sympathize  with  the  old  Jeffersonian 
party  on  the  one  hand,  while  the  relics  of  the  slave-system 
remaining  in  the  family  as  house-servants,  the  least  repul 
sive  form  of  that  relation,  seemed  little  likely  to  inspire  in 
him  much  aversion  to  it  on  the  other.  Nevertheless,  he 
early  formed  his  conclusions  adversely  to  the  organization 
in  NQW  York  professing  to  be  the  successors  of  the  Jeffer 
son  school,  and  not  less  so  to  the  perpetuation  of  slavery 
anywhere.  The  reason  for  this  is  obvious.  "With  his  keen 
perception  of  the  operation  of  general  principles,  he  pene 
trated  at  once  the  fact  that  the  resurrection,  in  this  form,  of 
the  old  party  was  not  only  hollow,  but  selfish.  It  looked 
to  him  somewhat  like  a  close  corporation,  made  for  the  pur 
pose  of  dealing  in  popular  doctrines,  not  so  much  for  the 
public  benefit  as  for  that  of  the  individual  directors.  More- 


10  ADDRESS   OF 

over,  it  became  clear  that,  among  those  doctrines,  that  of 
freedom  to  the  slave  was  rigorously  excluded  by  reason  of 
the  bond  of  union  entered  into  with  his  masters  at  the 
South.  In  reality,  he  was,  in  principle,  too  democratic  for 
the  Democrats.  Hence,  he  waged  incessant  war  against 
this  form  of  oligarchy  down  to  the  hour  when  it  was  finally 
broken  up. 

^  On  the  other  hand,  the  selection  of  the  more  conserva 
tive  side,  which  he  finally  made,  was  one  not  unattended 
with  difficulty.  The  idea  of  a  popular  form  of  government 
which  he  had  built  up  in  his  own  mind  was  one  of  the  most 
expansive  kind.  He  applied  it  to  our  system,  and  saw  at 
once  the  means  of  its  development  almost  indefinitely.  In 
the  variety  of  details  as  they  passed  before  him,  whether  it 
was  legislation,  education,  immigration,  internal  or  external 
communication,  personal  or  religious  liberty,  social  equali 
zation,  or  national  expansion,  he  viewed  the  treatment  of  all 
in  his  large,  generalizing  way,  always  subject,  however,  to 
the  regulation  of  general  laws.  In  this  he  was  conservative, 
that  he  sought  to  change,  only  the  better  to  expand  on  a 
wider  scale.  So  far  as  I  can  comprehend  the  true  sense  of 
the  word  democracy,  I  have  never  found  my  idea  more 
broadly  developed  than  by  him.  It  is  far  more  practical 
than  any  thing  ever  taught  by  Jefferson,  and  throws  into 
deep  shadow  the  performances  of  most  of  his  modern  dis 
ciples.  The  alternative  to  which  he  was  driven  was  not 
without  embarrassments,  which  he  soon  had  occasion  to  feel. 
In  allying  himself  with  a  party  in  which  conservative  views 
had  more  or  less  positive  control,  he  could  not  fail  to  under 
stand  that  his  doctrines  would  sometimes  inspire  many  of 
his  associates  with  distrust,  and  some  with  absolute  dislike, 
even  though  they  might  tolerate  a  union  for  the  sake  of  the 
obvious  advantage  of  his  effective  abilities.  In  point  of  fact, 
he  soon  became  a  representative  of  the  younger,  the  ardent, 
and  the  liberal  division,  which  favored  a  policy  more  in  har- 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  H 

mony  with  the  nature  of  our  institutions  than  suited  the 
adherents  to  long-established  ideas.  Yet  these  were  not 
long  in  finding  out  that  he  was  possessed  of  powers  to  di 
rect  the  popular  sense,  which,  on  the  whole,  it  was  not  ex 
pedient  for  them  to  neglect.  Presently  an  occasion  made 
him  prominent  in  the  State  elections.  The  inconsistency, 
which  he  could  not  fail  to  expose,  of  the  power  of  secret 
societies  with  popular  institutions,  as  illustrated  in  the  well- 
known  story  of  the  abduction  and  death  of  Morgan,  made 
him,  first,  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  this  State,  and  after 
ward  raised  him  to  be  the  Governor  for  two  terms.  In  all 
this  public  service  he  is  found  boldly  adhering  to  his  broad 
views,  even  when  they  were  so  much  in  advance  as  actually 
to  conflict  witli  popular  prejudices.  He  led  so  far  that  few 
could  keep  pace  with  him.  Some  even  jeered,  and  many 
absolutely  denounced  Lira.  The  opposition  was  so  stub 
born,  at  last,  that  he  decided  to  withdraw  from  the  field. 
Yet  the  period  soon  arrived  when  the  wisdom  of  his  course 
came  to  be  fully  recognized,  and  the  disputed  points  of  his 
policy  firmly  established.  I  very  much  fear  lest  in  this 
analysis  I  may  have  much  too  seriously  fatigued  your  atten 
tion.  Yet,  without  it,  I  am  convinced  that  I  cannot  illus 
trate  the  various  phenomena  of  Mr.  Se ward's  public  life,  or 
point  out  the  difficulties  through  which  he  was  perpetu 
ally  working  his  way.  Now  begins  to  be  felt  beneath  our 
feet  the  first  tremulous  motion  of  what  ultimately  proved 
the  great  earthquake  that  shook  the  existing  party  organi 
zations  to  pieces.  I  have  already  alluded  to  the  first  hid 
den  overture  made  by  General  Jackson  to  the  Government 
of  Mexico,  through  the  agency  of  Anthony  Butler.  Fail 
ing  in  this  intrigue  to  get  the  territory  desired  by  purchase, 
the  next  stroke  was  to  endeavor  to  steal  it  by  the  indirect 
process  of  colonizing  emigration.  I  have  no  time  to  dwell 
on  the  details  of  that  nefarious  transaction,  which,  partially 
checked  by  the  wary  timidity  of  Martin  Yan  Buren,  revived 


12  ADDRESS  OF 

with,  vigor  under  the  pseudo-presidency  of  John  Tyler,  and 
was  ultimately  consummated  with  the  sanction  of  James 
K.  Polk. 

But  this  daring  policy,  however  well  covered  at  its  out 
set,  did  not  fail  gradually  to  fix  upon  it  the  attention  of 
numbers  of  the  calmest  and  most  moderate  thinkers  of  the 
country  least  bound  by  the  fetters  of  either  political  school. 
Taken  in  connection  with  the  arbitrary  spirit  manifested  by 
the  eiforts  to  suppress  by  popular  violence  the  proceedings 
of  a  few  enthusiasts,  who  only  claimed  their  unquestionable 
right  to  express  in  public  their  objections  to  the  whole  sys 
tem  of  slavery,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  their  eyes  began 
to  open  to  the  realization  of  how  far  the  action  of  the  Gov 
ernment  and  people  had  drifted  from  the  original  principles 
with  which  it  started.  Yery  slowly  at  first,  but  steadily 
afterward,  the  public  sentiment  went  on  gathering  sufficient 
force  to  make  itself  an  object  of  attention  to  the  leading 
men  of  the  two  parties.  For  some  years,  the  ordinary  dis 
cipline,  so  thoroughly  established  among  our  habits,  con 
tinued  to  resist  even  the  greatest  strain  which  the  slave-hold 
ing  alliance  thought  proper  to  place  upon  it.  But  the 
moment  came  when  the  assumption  of  the  right  absolutely 
to  control  the  expression  of  the  sense  of  the  people,  in  the 
form  of  respectful  petition  to  their  own  representatives, 
proved  a  burden  too  heavy  to  bear.  The  cord  then 
snapped,  and  from  that  date  the  disintegration  of  the  old 
organization  may  be  seen  steadily  hastening  to  its  close. 
The  sentiments  of  Mr.  Seward  on  the  subject  of  slavery  had 
been  early  expressed.  Previously  to  graduating  at  college, 
he  had  passed  six  months  in  the  State  of  Georgia,  but  he 
seems  not  to  have  been  converted  by  his  experience  to  any 
faith  in  the  system.  His  first  public  demonstration  was 
made  in  a  Fourth-of-July  oration,  delivered  at  Auburn, 
when  he  was  twenty-four  years  old.  The  passage  is  suffi 
ciently  striking,  in  view  of  our  later  history,  to  merit  quota- 


CHARLES  FRAXCIS  ADAMS.  13 

tion  here.  Speaking  of  the  Union  :  "  Those,  too,"  he  says, 
"  misapprehend  either  the  true  interest  of  the  people  of  these 
States,  or  their  intelligence,  who  believe  or  profess  to  believe 
that  a  separation  will  ever  take  place  between  the  North  and 
the  South.  The  people  of  the  North  have  been  seldom  sus 
pected  of  a  want  of  attachment  to  the  Union,  and  those  of 
the  South  have  been  much  misrepresented  by  a  few  politicians 
of  a  stormy  character,  who  have  ever  been  unsupported  by 
the  people  there.  The  North  will  not  willingly  give  up  the 
power  they  now  have  in  the  national  councils,  of  gradually 
completing  a  work  in  which,  whether  united  or  separate,  from 
proximity  of  territory,  we  shall  ever  be  interested — the 
emancipation  of  slaves.  And  the  South  will  never,  in  a 
moment  of  resentment,  expose  themselves  to  a  war  with  the 
North  while  they  have  such  a  great  domestic  population  of 
slaves  ready  to  embrace  any  opportunity  to  assert  their  free 
dom,  and  inflict  their  revenge."  In  this  passage,  the  delib 
erate  claim  of  a  right  in  the  Federal  Government  to  eman 
cipate  slaves  by  legislation  is  not  less  remarkable  than  the 
miscalculation  of  the  force  of  the  passions  which  led  the 
South,  in  the  end,  to  the  very  step  that  brought  on  the  pre 
dicted  consequences.  Yet  in  his  conclusion  he  proved  a 
prophet.  But  he  then  could  little  have  foreseen  the  share 
he  was  to  have  in  controlling  the  final  convulsion. 

Mr.  Seward  terminated  his  career  as  a  State  politician 
with  a  very  elaborate  exposition  of  his  views  of  policy,  pre 
sented  with  great  ability.  It  was  wise  in  him  to  retreat, 
leaving  such  a  legacy,  for  he  thus  escaped  complications 
with  local  interests  and  rival  jealousies,  which  render  per 
severance  in  purely  local  struggles  such  a  thankless  labor. 
It  was  this  error  which  for  a  long  time  impaired  the  useful 
ness  of  another  great  statesman  of  New  York,  De  Witt 
Clinton.  From  this  date,  Mr.  Seward  remained  several 
years  in  private  life,  steadily  pursuing  his  profession..  The 
course  of  public  affairs  had  not  proved  propitious  to  his 


14   >  ADDRESS  OF 

party.  The  gleam  of  light  shed  by  the  success  of  General 
Harrison,  in  the  presidential  election,  had  turned  to  dark 
ness  by  his  death,  and  the  consequent  succession  of  John 
Tyler.  Then  followed  the  sharply-disputed  election  of  1844, 
when,  for  the  first  time,  was  taught  to  the  manipulators  of 
nominations  a  new  precedent  by  which  to  regulate  their 
policy.  The  lesson  was  this :  That  between  a  man  of  proved 
abilities,  marked  character,  and  long  services,  like  Henry 
Clay,  on  the  one  side,  and  one  comparatively  unknown, 
with  a  brief,  insignificant  career,  like  James  K.  Polk,  as 
candidates  for  the  presidency,  the  majority  of  the  people 
will  prefer  the  one  against  whom  the  least  can  be  said.  I 
shall  have  to  recur  to  this  matter  by-and-by  in  another  form. 
But  there  was  another  and  still  more  significant  lesson 
taught  to  politicians  on  this  occasion :  This  was,  that  the 
party  organizations  founded  upon  a  compromise,  excluding 
the  vital  issue  affecting  the  country,  were  about  to  meet  with 
another  shock.  The  final  accomplishment  of  the  scheme  of 
enlarging  the  slave-holding  region,  by  the  acquisition  of 
Texas,  was  well  understood  to  be  certain,  in  the  event  of 
the  election  of  Mr.  James  K.  Polk.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
course  likely  to  be  taken,  should  Mr.  Clay  prove  the  victor, 
was  left  uncertain.  A  demand  to  know  his  sentiments  was 
made  so  imperative  that  it  was  not  deemed  prudent  by  him 
to  evade  it.  Yet,  a  rent  in  the  party  was  almost  sure  to  fol 
low,  whatever  might  be  his  conclusion.  The  result  was  a  weak 
attempt,  in  a  letter  by  Mr.  Clay,  to  reconcile  opinions  which 
had  become  too  discordant  to  permit  of  such  treatment.  Mr. 
Seward,  though  he  faithfully  adhered  to  the  party,  was  too 
sagacious  not  to  foresee  the  effect  upon  that  portion  of  it 
with  which  he  most  sympathized  at  home.  A  defection  of 
sixteen  thousand  voters  in  New  York  turned  the  scale,  and 
Mr.  Polk  was  elevated  to  power.  This  was  the  first  consid 
erable  fissure  made  in  the  existing  parties,  and  it  inured  to 
the  benefit  of  the  so-called  Democracv.  But  their  turn 


CHARLES  FRAXCIS  ADAMS.  15 

came  around  next  time,  when  they  were  wrecked  on  the 
same  rock.  Such  was  the  inevitable  consequence  of  perse 
vering  in  the  maintenance  of  a  division  which  was  wholly 
superficial,  and  evasive  of  the  real  and  true  issue — the  per 
manence  of  the  slave-holding  supremacy. 

The  consequences  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Polk  were  very 
serious.  Not  only  was  the  State  of  Texas  introduced,  but  a 
war  with  Mexico  followed,  and  a  much  larger  acquisition  of 
territory  at  the  peace  than  had  been  originally  contemplated. 
The  engineer  had  been  "  hoist  with  his  own  petard."  The 
success  of  the  war  had  naturally  brought  into  notice  the 
military  leaders  who  most  contributed  to  it.  The  election 
of  1829  established  another  precedent  for  the  guidance  of 
parties,  which  had  been  confirmed  by  the  experience  of 
1840.  This  was  in  effect  that,  as  between  a  civilian  and  a 
soldier,  both  of  them  of  marked  character,  and  of  proved 
abilities  by  sufficient  service,  the  people  prefer  the  soldier. 
General  Taylor  had  very  much  distinguished  himself  by 
his  Mexican  campaign,  and  the  Whig  party  seized  the  ear 
liest  opportunity  of  enlisting  him  in  its  ranks.  All  the  old 
statesmen  were  set  aside,  to  press  him  into  the  arena,  and, 
under  a  military  banner,  once  more  to  overcome  the  Demo 
crats,  as  they  had  done  with  Harrison.  But,  unluckily  for 
the  harmony  of  the  movement,  it  came  out  that  Taylor  was 
a  planter,  holding  many  slaves,  in  one  of  the  richest  cotton- 
producing  States.  The  notion  of  setting  up  such  a  candidate 
in  connection  with  an  antislavery  policy  advocated  by  num 
bers  of  the  party,  seemed  at  first  blush  too  preposterous  to 
be  countenanced  for  a  moment.  Yet  it  must  be  conceded 
that  Mr.  Seward  undertook  the  difficult  task  of  advocating 

O 

the  inconsistency.  I  will  frankly  confess  that  I  was  one 
among  many  of  his  friends  in  New  England  who  could  not 
becom'e  reconciled  to  the  contradiction  apparent  in  this  pro 
ceeding.  We  had  reluctantly  acquiesced  in  the  ambiguous 
policy  of  Mr.  Clay  four  years  before ;  but  when  it  came  to 


IQ  ADDRESS  OF 

this,  that  we  were  called  to  give  even  a  tacit  ratification  of 
the  series  of  revolting  measures  that  followed,  including  the 
Mexican  War,  and  still  more,  to  elevate  to  the  highest  post 
of  the  country,  as  a  reward  for  his  services,  a  slave-holder 
having  every  possible  inducement  to  perpetuate  the  evil  of 
which  we  complained,  it  proved  a  heavier  load  than  we 
could  bear.  The  consequence  was  a  very  considerable  se 
cession  from  the  party,  and  an  effort  to  bring  before  the 
public  an  independent  nomination.  This  was  carried  out 
in  what  has  ever  since  been  remembered  as  the  Buffalo 
Convention.  Simultaneously  with  this  movement,  a  simi 
lar  one  had  been  made  in  the  Democratic  party,  a  section 
of  which  of  considerable  force  in  New  York,  dissatisfied 
with  the  nomination  of  Lewis  Cass,  ultimately  consented  to 
make  a  part  of  the  same  assembly.  The  end  was  the  nomi 
nation  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren,  and  a  declaration,  for  the  first 
time,  of  a  system  of  policy  distinctly  founded  upon  the  true 
issues  agitating  the  country.  But,  however  the  fact  may 
be  in  the  details  of  ordinary  life,  it  is  quite  certain  that,  in 
the  conflicts  of  politics,  the  persons  who  try  the  hardest  to 
press  straight  forward  to  their  object  not  un frequently  find 
themselves  landed  at  the  end  of  the  opposite  road.  The 
effect  of  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren  was  to  make  us, 
his  opponents,  contribute  to  the  triumph  of  General  Taylor, 
more  decisively  than  if  we  had  voted  for  him  directly. 
This  it  was  that  proved  the  wisdom  of  Mr.  Seward  in  hold 
ing  back  from  our  action.  Yet,  with  the  success  of  General 
Taylor,  the  position  in  which  Mr.  Seward  found  himself 
seems  to  me,  even  now,  to  have  been  the  most  critical  one 
in  his  life.  He  had  in  the  canvass  allowed  himself  to  be 
freely  used  as  an  instrument  to  conciliate  numbers  of  his 
friends,  strongly  tempted  to  secede.  In  order  to  retain 
them  he  had  to  hold  fast  to  his  own  ground,  and  even  to 
give  assurance  of  his  confidence  that  it  would  be  ultimately 
sustained  in  case  of  victory.  I  have  lately  read  with  care 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  17 

such  reports  of  his  speeches  during  that  canvass  as  I  could 
find  ;  and  from  that  perusal  I  am  constrained  to  admit  that, 
much  as  I  doubted  his  good  faith  at  the  time,  I  cannot  per 
ceive  any  failure  in  consistency  or  in  committing  himself  to 
any  policy  which  might  follow,  adverse  to  the  expectations 
he  held  out.  In  other  words,  he  kept  himself  free  to  influ 
ence  it  favorably  if  he  could,  or  to  disavow  it  if  it  should 
prove  to  be  adverse.  It  was  an  honest,  though  not  al 
together  a  safe,  position  in  case  of  success.  General  Taylor 
was  made  President,  and  simultaneously  Mr.  Seward  was, 
for  the  first  time,  transferred  from  the  field  of  State  to  that 
of  national  affairs.  He  came  into  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  not  to  leave  it  for  twelve  years.  He  came  under  cir 
cumstances  of  no  trifling  embarrassment.  The  new  Presi 
dent  was  at  the  time  utterly  unknown  to  the  public  men, 
and  especially  to  him.  He  had  been  elected  by  a  party  still 
greatly  divided  in  sentiment  upon  the  grave  questions  about 
to  come  up  for  a  decision.  The  chance  of  the  preponder 
ance  of  a  policy  favorable  to  freedoin  was  by  no  means  flat 
tering.  An  inexperienced  President  is  obliged  to  consume 
much  of  his  early  days  in  office  in  correcting  the  mistakes 
he  commits,  before  he  gets  to  an  understanding  with  his  ad 
visers.  I  am  very  sure  that  Mr.  Seward  felt  for  some  time 
quite  uncertain  what  the  issue  would  be.  Every  thing  de 
pended  upon  the  natural  powers  of  General  Taylor  to  dis 
tinguish  the  true  from  the  false  path.  Happily  for  Mr. 
Seward,  he  determined  to  be  guided  by  his  counsel. 

A  tract  of  territory  had  been  acquired  by  the  war  far 
more  spacious  than  had  been  contemplated  by  the  originators 
of  the  policy,  and  now  the  question  came  up  whether  all  of 
the  excess  should  be  dedicated  to  the  use  of  freemen,  or  of 
masters  and  servants,  as  Texas  had  been.  In  other  words, 
should  slavery  be  tolerated  and  extended  indefinitely  ?  Early 
measures  had  been  taken  to  pave  the  way  for  it,  by  abrogat 
ing  such  portions  of  the  existing  Mexican  law  as  might  seem 


18  ADDRESS  OF 

in  conflict  with  it.  But  the  President  determined  to  give 
110  countenance  to  that  policy,  and  Mr.  Seward  was  left  at 
liberty  to  come  forward  at  once  as  an  independent  champion 
of  freedom. 

It  was  a  critical  moment  in  the  great  struggle,  out  of 
which  the  Government  was  to  issue  either  as  an  oligarchy, 
controlling  all  things  in  the  interest  of  a  class  of  masters  of 
slaves,  or  else  in  a  fuller  development  in  harmony  with  the 
declared  objects  of  its  first  construction.  A  remarkable 
number  of  men  of  superior  abilities  had  been  collected  in 
the  Senate  just  at  this  moment,  all  of  whom  had  grown 
gray  under  the  existing  organization  of  parties,  and  were 
little  disposed  to  favor  innovations.  Mr.  Calhoun  and  Mr. 
Clay,  though  widely  differing  on  other  points,  equally  re 
lucted  at  the  agitation  of  slavery.  Mr.  Webster,  on  his 
part,  never  could  make  up  his  mind  to  meet  it  fully  in  the 
face.  All  manifested  a  desire  to  resort  once  more  to  some 
form  of  compromise,  synonymous  with  a  practical  conces 
sion  to  the  slave-holding  pretensions.  The  immediate  ques 
tion  was  upon  the  admission  of  the  newly-acquired  Terri 
tory  of  California  into  the  Union  as  a  free  State.  The  ad 
vocates  of  slavery  insisted  upon  tacking  to  it  conditions 
luring  to  the  support  of  their  system  in  other  respects,  as  a 
consideration  proper  to  be  granted  for  their  acquiescence. 
In  other  words,  it  was  another  bargain  to  uphold  slavery. 
And  now,  for  the  first  time,  Mr.  Seward  came  forth  on  the 
great  national  arena  to  try  his  strength  against  his  formida 
ble  competitors.  Three  successive  speeches — one  on  the 
llth  of  March,  the  next  on  the  2d  of  July,  and  the  last  on 
the  llth  of  September,  of  the  year  1850 — displayed,  in  the 
clearest  light  his  whole  policy  on  this  vital  subject.  At  the 
very  outset  he  declared  himself  opposed  to  a  compromise  in 
any  and  all  the  forms  in  which  it  had  been  proposed ;  and 
he  followed  up  the  words  with  a  close  argument  against  each 
of  those  forms.  He  then  went  on  boldly  to  grapple  with 


CHARLES  FRANCIS   ADAMS.  19 

the  oft-repeated  threats  of  disunion,  as  a  consequence  of 
emancipation,  in  a  manner  rarely  heard  before  in  that  hall. 
Casting  off  the  shackles  of  party  discipline,  he  used  these 
memorable  words :  "  Here,  then,  is  the  point  of  my  separa 
tion  from  both  of  these  parties.  I  feel  assured  that  slavery 
must  give  way,  and  will  give  way,  to  the  salutary  instruc 
tions  of  economy  and  to  the  ripening  influences  of  human 
ity  ;  that  emancipation  is  inevitable,  and  is  NEAR  ;  that  it 
may  be  hastened  or  hindered ;  and,  whether  it  shall  be 
peaceful  or  violent,  depends  upon  the  question  whether 
it  be  hastened  or  hindered ;  that  all  measures  which  for 
tify  slavery  or  extend  it  tend  to  the  consummation  of  vio 
lence  ;  all  that  check  its  extension  and  abate  its  strength 
tend  to  its  peaceful  extirpation.  But  I  will  adopt  none  but 
lawful,  constitutional,  and  peaceful  means  to  secure  even 
that  end ;  and  none  such  can  lor  will  I  forego"  Prophetic 
words,  indeed,  which  it  would  have  been  well  had  they  been 
properly  heeded  at  the  time  by  the  besotted  men  who,  ten 
years  later,  rushed  upon  their  own  ruin.  It  was  in  this 
speech,  also,  that  he  enunciated  the  doctrine  of  a  higher  law 
than  the  Constitution,  which  gave  rise  to  an  infinite  amount 
of  outcry  from  even  a  very  respectable  class  of  people,  who 
were  shocked  at  the  license  thought  to  be  implied  by  such  an 
appeal.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  no  truth  is  more  obvious 
than  this,  that  all  powers  of  government  and  legislation  are 
closely  restricted  within  a  limitation  beyond  which  they  can 
not  pass  without  being  stripped  of  their  force.  This  limita 
tion  may  be  purely  material,  or  it  may  be  moral,  but  in 
either  case  its  power  is  similar,  if  not  the  same.  It  is  a  fa 
miliar  story  which  is  told  in  the  books  of  Canute,  the  great 
Danish  conqueror  of  Great  Britain,  that  once,  when  his  cour 
tiers  were  vying  with  each  other  in  magnifying  their  sense 
of  his  omnipotence^  he  simply  ordered  his  chair  to  be  ap 
proached  to  the  advancing  tide  of  the  ocean,  and  loudly  or 
dered  the  waves  to  retire.  The  flatterers  understood  the 


20  ADDRESS  OF 

hint,  and  were  abashed  by  this  withering  illustration  of  the 
"higher  law."  In  the  declaration  of  his  policy  in  these 
three  speeches  Mr.  Seward  was  substantially  supporting 
what  had  been  agreed  upon  as  within  the  line  of  the  admin 
istration  of  General  Taylor.  And,  so  far  as  it  was  success 
fully  carried  out  under  his  auspices,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
it  greatly  contributed  to  remedy  the  evils  anticipated  from 
the  slave-holding  intrigues  of  twenty  years.  He  was  now, 
to  all  outward  appearance,  on  the  top  wave  of  fortune,  not 
unlikely  to  infuse  into  the  national  system  a  much  more 
consistent  system  of  principles  than  it  had  been  its  fortune 
to  contain  for  many  years.  A  single  stroke  from  the  higher 
law  brought  all  his  castle-building  to  the  ground.  A  few 
days  of  illness,  and  the  President  was  no  more.  To  cite 
the  words  of  an  old  poet : 

"  Oh,  frail  estate  of  human  things, 
And  slippery  hopes  below  ! 
Now,  to  our  cost,  your  emptiness  we  kno^. 
Assurance  here  is  never  to  be  sought ; 
He  toiled,  he  gained,  but  lived  not  to  enjoy." 

Scarcely  could  a  blow  be  more  overwhelming.  The  loss 
of  the  President  was,  in  due  course,  supplied  by  the  acces 
sion  of  the  Yice-President,  Mr.  Fillmore.  But  with  him 
came  in  the  conservative  section  of  the  party,  which  had 
never  reposed  confidence  in  Mr.  Seward.  From  that  mo 
ment  he  was  reduced  once  more  to  his  old  position  as  de 
pending  exclusively  on  his  own  powers,  and  had,  as  before, 
nothing  to  look  for  in  official  influence  but  opposition.  The 
turn  of  things  was  decisive.  The  leading  advocates  of  the 
policy  of  compromise  freshened  up  to  their  labors,  and  the 
result  was  the  adoption  of  a"  series  of  measures  passing 
under  that  term,  which  the  purblind  authors  fondly  hoped 
would  indefinitely  postpone  the  earthquake,  at  the  very 
moment  rumbling  under  their  feet.  This  memorable  com 
pact,  entered  into  by  three  of  the  most  eminent  of  our 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  21 

statesmen  in  the  present  century — Mr.  Calhoun,  Mr.  Clay, 
and  Mr.  Webster — will  forever  remain  as  a  proof  of  their 
own  infatuation,  and  of  nothing  else.  They  might  just  as 
well  have  attempted  to  stop  the  torrent  of  Niagara  with  a 
drag-net.  One  effect  of  this  proceeding  was  soon  made 
perceptible.  It  proved  a  death-blow  to  one  of  the  party 
organizations.  At  the  succeeding  presidential  election,  the 
conservative  section  of  the  Whigs  having  failed  in  securing 
a  nomination  of  a  candidate  to  suit  their  views,  rather  than 
to  vote  for  General  Scott,  understood  to  represent  other  sen 
timents,  passed  almost  in  mass  over  to  the  Democracy,  and 
voted  for  Franklin  Pierce.  The  result  was,  that  the  most 
insignificant  and  unworthy  candidate  ever  yet  presented  to 
the  suffrages  of  the  people,  in  a  contested  election,  was  cho 
sen  by  a  greater  majority  than  ever  was  given  to  the  best. 
From  this  moment  the  course  of  things  rapidly  assumed  a 
more  natural  and  consistent  shape.  The  new  Administra 
tion  was  soon  found  to  be  entirely  under  the  control  of  the 
ultra  slave-holders,  and  the  policy  of  forcing  slavery  into 
the  unoccupied  regions  of  the  West  was  unscrupulously 
pushed  with  their  connivance.  With  these  proceedings  be 
gan  the  great  reaction  in  the  North  and  West.  At  last  the 
election  of  1856  displayed  the  fact  that  parties  had  thrown 
off  disguises,  and  were  placing  themselves  upon  the  real 
issues  vital  to  the  country.  Although  the  result  still  fa 
vored  the  slave-holders,  and  James  Buchanan  was  made  to 
succeed  Franklin  Pierce,  the  severity  of  the  struggle  indi 
cated  but  too  plainly  the  beginning  of  the  end.  From  this 
moment  the  Republican  party  became  the  true  antagonist  to 
that  domination. 

Mr.  Seward  now,  for  the  first  time,  enjoyed  the  great 
advantage  of  being  perfectly  free  from  embarrassments 
springing  out  of  a  union  with  paralyzing  associates  in  the 
same  party.  He  took  the  field  with  all  his  vigor,  and  the 
speeches  which  he  made,  both  in  the  Senate  and  before  the 


22  ADDRESS  OF 

people,  remain  to  testify  to  liis  powers,  and  his  success. 
The  effects  of  the  new  union,  reenforced  by  the  extreme 
policy  adopted  by  the  opposite  side,  were  made  perceptible 
in  the  steady  increase  of  the  minorities  in  both  Houses  of 
Congress.  The  opening  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Congress  showed 
that  in  the  popular  branch  the  Republican  party  counted  a 
plurality  of  the  members.  After  a  long-continued  struggle, 
they  succeeded  in  electing  their  Speaker.  It  looked  as  if  the 
handwriting  would  soon  be  visible  on  the  wall.  Then  came 
a  moment  when  a  candidate  of  the  party,  at  last  thoroughly 
organized,  was  to  be  nominated  for  the  presidency  of  1861. 
Mr.  Seward,  in  his  ten  years  of  service  in  the  Senate,  had 
completely  developed  his  capacity  as  a  great  leader  in  diffi 
cult  times.  With  the  singular  mixture  of  boldness  and 
moderation  which  distinguished  him  from  all  others,  he  had 
maintained  his  ground  against  all  the  assaults  made  upon 
him  by  the  ablest  of  the  slave-holding  statesmen  in  their 
stronghold  of  the  Senate.  He  had  known  how  to  pursue 
that  narrow  path  between  license  in  discussion  on  the  one 
hand,  and  personal  altercation  on  the  other,  which  is  so  sel 
dom  faithfully  adhered  to  by  public  men,  especially  when 
cunning  fencers  are  ever  lying  in  wait  to  entrap  them.  He 
had  also  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  experience  in  his  administra 
tion  while  Governor  of  New  York,  which  had  made  him  fa 
miliar  as  well  with  executive  as  with  legislative  forms  of  busi 
ness.  The  older  statesmen  of  great  note  had  vanished,  so 
as  to  make  his  party  prominence  more  marked  than  ever. 
As  a  consequence,  when  the  nominating  convention  assem 
bled  at  Chicago,  the  eyes  of  all  were  turned  toward  him  as 
the  candidate,  of  all  others,  the  most  distinguished.  A  large 
plurality  had  been  chosen  as  delegates  friendly  to  him,  and 
the  general  expectation  was  that  he  would  be  nominated  at 
once.  But  it  was  remembered  that,  in  1844,  Henry  Clay 
was  defeated  because  he  had  a  long  record  of  public  service, 
from  which  many  marked  sayings  and  doings  might  be 


CHARLES   FRAXCIS  ADAMS.  23 

quoted  to  affect  impressible  waverers,  and  James  K.  Polk 
was  elected  because  nobody  could  quote  any  thing  against 
him,  for  the  reason  that  he  had  never  said  or  done  any  thing 
worth  quoting  at  all.  Furthermore,  the  ghosts  of  the  high 
er  law  and  of  the  irrepressible  conflict  flitted  about  to  alarm 
excited  imaginations.  Last  but  not  least  came  in  the  ele 
ment  of  bargain  and  management,  manipulated  by  adepts 
at  intrigue,  which  is  almost  inseparable  from,  similar  assem 
blies.  The  effect  of  all  these  influences  united  was  to  turn 
the  tide  at  last,  and  Mr.  Seward,  the  veteran  champion  of 
the  reforming  policy,  was  set  aside  in  favor  of  a  gentleman 
as  little  known  by  any  thing  he  had  ever  done  as  the  most 
sanguine  friend  of  such  a  selection  could  desire.  The  fact 
is  beyond  contradiction  that  no  person,  ever  before  nominated 
with  any  reasonable  probability  of  success,  had  had  so  little 
of  public  service  to  show  for  his  reward.  Placing  myself 
in  the  attitude  of  Mr.  Seward,  at  the  moment  when  the 
news  of  so  strange  a  decision  would  reach  his  ears,  I  think 
I  might,  like  Jaques,  in  the  play,  have  moralized  for  an  in 
stant  on  man's  ingratitude,  and  been  warned  by  the  example 
of  Aristides,  or  even  the  worse  fate  of  Barneveld  and  the 
two  De  Witts,  not  to  press  further  in  a  career  in  which  the 
strong  were  to  be  ostracized,  because  of  their  strength,  and 
the  \veak  were  to  be  pushed  into  places  of  danger,  on  ac 
count  of  their  nothingness.  To  be  elected  for  the  reason 
that  a  person  has  never  done  any  thing  to  display  his  pow 
ers  of  usefulness  to  bring  about  positive  results,  would  seem 
to  be  like  making  elevation  to  power  the  prize  of  the  greatest 
insignificance.  Under  such  circumstances,  a  successful  man 
might  justly  infer  that  the  selection  of  himself  implied,  on 
its  face,  rather  an  insult  than  a  compliment.  But  Mr.  Sew 
ard,  when  he  heard  of  it,  did  not  reason  on  this  low  level. 
That  he  deeply  felt  such  a  refusal  to  recognize  the  value  of 
his  long  and  earnest  labors  in  a  perilous  cause,  I  have  every 
reason  to  believe.  For  it  was  precisely  at  this  moment 


24:  ADDRESS  OF 

that  the  intimacy  with  which  he  sometime  honored  me 
dates  its  commencement.  I  had  been  long  watching  his 
course  with  the  deepest  interest,  sometimes  fearful  lest  he 
might  bend  toward  the  delusive  track  of  expediency,  at 
others  impatient  at  his  calmness  in  moments  fit  to  call 
out  the  fire  of  Demosthenes,  yet,  on  the  whole,  if  I  may 
be  so  bold  as  to  confess  it,  fastened  to  his  footsteps  by  the 
conviction  that  he  alone,  of  all  others,  had  most  marked 
himself  as  a  disciple  of  the  school  in  which  I  had  been  bred 
myself.  In  this  state  of  mind  I  had  indulged  a  strong 
hope,  not  only  that  his  splendid  services  would  meet  with  a 
just  acknowledgment,  but  that  his  future  guidance  might 
be  depended  on  in  the  event  of  critical  difficulties.  I  was 
at  the  time  in  the  public  service  at  Washington,  and  much 
cast  down  on  hearing  of  the  result.  Mr.  Seward  had  been 
at  Auburn,  and  was  just  returned.  I  had  not  seen  the  an 
swer  to  his  friends,  written  from  that  place  on  the  31st  of 
May,  signifying  his  ready  acquiescence  in  the  result,  and  if 
I  had  I  might  not  have  put  entire  trust  in  it  as  a  full  ex 
pression  of  his  inmost  heart.  The  day  after  his  return  he 
called  in  his  carriage  at  my  door  and  asked  me  to  get  in  and 
drive  with  him  to  the  Capitol.  He  had  never  done  this  be 
fore,  but  I  promptly  accepted  his  offer.  Full  of  disgust  at 
the  management  resorted  to  to  defeat  his  nomination,  I  did 
not  hesitate  in  expressing  it  to  him  in  the  most  forcible 
terms.  But  I  found  no  corresponding  response.  I  saw 
that  he  had  been  grievously  disappointed.,  and  that  he  felt 
the  blow  so  effectually  aimed  at  him.  But  he  gave  no  sound 
of  discontent.  On  the  contrary,  he  calmly  deprecated  all 
similar  complaints,  and  at  once  turned  my  attention  to  the 
duty  of  heartily  accepting  the  situation  for  the  sake  of  the 
cause.  The  declaration  of  principles  put  forth  by  the  conven 
tion  was  perfectly  satisfactory,  and  it  now  became  his  friends 
to  look  only  to  the  work  of  securing  their  establishment. 
Such  was  the  burden  of  the  conversation  for  the  greater 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  25 

part  of  the  way.  The  tone  was  just  the  same  as  that  in  the 
public  letter,  while  the  language  was  more  simple  and  un 
reserved.  To  me  it  was  a  revelation  of  the  moral  superior 
ity  of  the  man.  I  had  heard  so  much  in  my  time  of  the 
management  attributed  to  New  York  politicians,  from  the 
days  of  Aaron  Burr  to  those  of  Martin  Van  Buren,  that  I 
should  not  have  been  surprised  to  learn  from  him  some  de 
tails  of  the  causes  of  his  failure.  But  there  was  not  a  word. 
An  experience  like  this  drove  me  at  once  to  the  conclusion 
that,  if  such  deportment  as  this  passed  under  the  denomina 
tion  of  New  York  management,  I  should  be  glad  to  see  its 
definition  of  magnanimity.  Neither  were  these  merely 
brave  words,  followed  up  by  inaction  or  indifference.  Mr. 
Seward  entered  into  the  canvass  in  behalf  of  his  rival  with 
the  utmost  energy.  I  was  myself  a  witness  and  companion 
through  a  large  part  of  his  journey  in  the  West.  His 
speeches,  made  at  almost  every  central  point,  indicate,  not 
simply  the  fertility  of  his  powers,  but  the  fidelity  with 
which  he  applied  them  to  the  purpose  in  hand.  They  still 
remain  with  us  to  testify  for  him  themselves.  The  election 
followed,  making  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  this  republic. 
The  slave-holding  power,  which  had  governed  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  had  at  last  ceased  to  control.  No  sooner  was 
the  result  known,  than  South  Carolina  lifted  the  banner  of 
secession,  not  having  chosen  to  wait  for  any  assignable  cause 
of  grievance.  Congress  assembled  at  Washington  to  hold 
the  last  session  under  the  administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan. 
Tied  hand  and  foot  by  the  conditions  under  which  lie  had 
received  his  nomination  four  years  before,  his  course  had 
been  faltering  and  uncertain,  meriting  praise  neither  for 
prudence  nor  patriotism.  A  strong  appeal,  immediately 
put  forth,  to  the  sound  sense  and  sterling  principles  of  the 
honest,  independent  citizens  of  the  country,  without  regard 
to  party,  backed  up  by  an  immediate  preparation,  quietly 
made,  of  the  means  at  hand  to  maintain  public  order,  in  any 


20  ADDRESS  OF 

contingency,  miglit  even  then  have  put  in  check  the  ten 
dency  of  multitudes  to  plunge  into  evil  counsels.  It  does 
not  appear  that  any  thing  of  the  kind  was  ever  thought  of. 
Treason  had  crept  into  the  very  heart  of  the  cabinet,  and  a 
policy  had  been  secretly  at  work  to  paralyze  rather  than  to 
fortify  the  resources  of  the  Executive.  Every  thing  was 
drifting  at  the  mercy  of  the  winds  and  waves.  One  single 
hour  of  the  will  displayed  by  General  Jackson,  at  the  time 
when  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  most  powerful  ]eader  secession  ever 
had,  was  abetting  active  measures,  would  have  stifled  the 
fire  in  its  cradle.  But  it  was  not  to  be.  The  evil  came 
from  the  misfortune  of  a  weak  President  in  a  perilous  emer 
gency.  Instead  of  taking  this  course,  a  message  was  sent 
to  Congress  by  Mr.  Buchanan,  lamenting  the  fact  of  what 
he  chose  to  call  a  secession  of  several  States,  but  coupling 
with  it  a  denial  of  any  power  to  coerce  them.  This  was  in 
its  essence  an  abandonment  of  all  right  to  control  popular 
resistance  in  that  form.  In  the  condition  things  were  at 
that  moment,  with  a  cabinet  divided,  and  both  branches  of 
the  Legislature  utterly  without  spirit  to  concert  measures, 
the  effect  was  equivalent  to  disintegration.  Disaffection 
became  rife  everywhere  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line. 
And,  in  the  city  of  Washington  itself,  it  became  difficult  to 
find,  among  the  residents,  persons  wholly  free  from  it.  Hu 
mors  of  some  impending  coup  d'etat  vaguely  floated  in  every 
breeze.  Erom  communications  made  to  me  by  persons 
likely  to  know,  I  have  every  reason  to  think  such  projects 
were  entertained  by  the  class  of  more  desperate  adventur 
ers.  The  idea  of  attacking  the  Constitution  in  its  weakest 
part,  the  form  of  declaring  the  election  of  President  in  the 
month  of  February,  had  been  gravely  considered.  Happily 
for  the  public  peace,  there  was  no  leader  at  hand  equal 
to  the  consummation  of  any  such  enterprise,  so  that  more 
moderate  counsels,  based  upon  the  not  unreasonable  confi 
dence  that  victory  was  more  sure  by  letting  matters  take 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  27 

their  course,  prevailed.  If  such  was  the  condition  of  the 
disaffected  party,  it  was  scarcely  better  with  the  loyal  side. 
The  President-elect  was  still  at  home  in  Illinois,  giving  no 
signs  of  life,  and  there  was  no  one  of  the  faithful  men  vested 
with  authority  to  speak  or  act  in  his  behalf.  That  some 
thing  ought  to  be  done  to  keep  the  control  of  the  capital, 
and  bridge  over  the  interval  before  the  4th  of  March  in 
peace  and  quiet,  was  manifest.  It  was  no  time  to  go  into 
consultations  that  would  inevitably  lead  to  delays,  if  not  to 
dissensions.  Neither  was  it  wise  to  spread  uneasiness  and 
alarm.  In  this  emergency,  I  have  it  in  my  power  to  speak 
only  of  what  I  know  Mr.  Seward  effected  on  his  sole  respon 
sibility.  Of  his  calmness  in  the  midst  of  difficulty,  of  his 
fertility  in  resource,  of  his  courage  in  at  once  breaking  up 
the  remnants  of  party  ties,  and  combining,  as  firmly  as  he 
could,  trusty  men,  whether  in  the  Government,  in  the  army, 
in  the  municipal  boards,  or  elsewhere,  to  secure  the  policy 
of  keeping  every  thing  steady,  I  had  abundant  evidence. 
The  hearty  cooperation  of  General  Scott,  then  Commander- 
in-Chief,  although  surrounded  by  less  than  even  lukewarm 
assistants,  proved  of  the  highest  value.  The  day  is,  per 
haps,  not  yet  come,  if  it  ever  does,  when  all  the  details  of 
these  operations  will  be  disclosed.  But,  if  it  should,  it  will 
only  add  one  more  to  the  many  causes  of  gratitude  due  by 
the  country  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Seward.  But,  out  of  all 
the  sources  of  anxiety  and  distrust  heaped  up  in  this  most 
fearful  interval,  that  which  appeared  to  many  the  most  ap 
palling  was  the  fact  that  we  were  about  to  have,  for  our 
guide  through  this  perilous  strife,  a  person  selected  partly 
on  account  of  the  absence  of  positive  qualities,  so  far  as  was 
known  to  the  public,  and  absolutely  without  the  advantage 
of  any  experience  in  national  affairs,  beyond  the  little  that 
can  be  learned  by  an  occupation  for  two  years  of  a  seat  in 
the  House  of  Representatives.  The  selection  of  Mr.  Polk 
and  Mr.  Pierce,  on  the  same  principle,  though  in  a  less  de- 


28  ADDRESS   OF 

gree,  for  both  of  them  had  seen  far  more  of  service,  had  been, 
in  a  measure,  justified  to  the  country  by  their  prompt  re 
course  to  the  best- trained  men  of  the  party,  as  supports  and 
guides  in  the  cabinet.  But  this  was  in  times  of  profound 
internal  quiet,  when  the  State  machinery  moved  almost  of 
itself;  while,  in  this  emergency,  every  wheel  appeared 
clogged,  and  even  the  tenacity  of  the  whole  fabric  was  seri 
ously  tried.  Neither  was  it  any  source  of  confidence  to  find 
that  day  passed  after  day,  and  not  a  syllable  of  intelligence 
came.  It  was  clear,  at  least  to  me,  that  our  chances  of 
safety  would  rest  upon  an  executive  council  composed  of 
the  wisest  and  most  experienced  men  that  could  be  found. 
So  it  seemed  absolutely  indispensable,  on  every  account, 
that  not  only  Mr.  Seward  should  have  been  early  secured  in 
a  prominent  post,  but  that  his  advice,  at  least,  should  have 
been  asked  in  regard  to  the  completion  of  the  organization. 
The  value  of  such  counsel  in  securing  harmony  in  policy  is 
too  well  understood  to  need  explanation.  But  Mr.  Lincoln 
as  yet  knew  little  of  all  this.  His  mind  had  not  even 
opened  to  the  nature  of  the  crisis.  From  his  secluded  abode 
in  the  heart  of  Illinois,  he  was  only  taking  the  measure  of 
geographical  relations  and  party  services,  and  beginning  his 
operations  where  others  commonly  leave  off,  at  the  smaller 
end.  Hence  it  was  at  quite  a  late  period  of  the  session  be 
fore  he  had  disclosed  his  intention  to  place  Mr.  Seward  in 
the  most  prominent  place.  So  doubtful  had  some  of  Mr. 
Seward's  friends  been  made,  by  this  proceeding,  of  the  spirit 
of  the  President,  that  they  were  disposed  to  advise  him  not 
to  assume  any  responsibility  under  him.  At  least,  this  was 
the  substance  of  what  I  understood  him  to  say,  when  he  was 
pleased  to  ask  of  me  my  sentiments.  My  answer  was  very 
short.  No  matter  what  the  manner  of  the  offer,  his  duty 
was  to  take  the  post.  At  the  same  time,  it  was  quite  clear 
to  me  that  he  stood  in  no  need  of  my  counsel.  I  should 
have  mistaken  his  character  if  he  had  hesitated. 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  29 

Let  me  not  be  understood  as  desiring  to  say  a  word  in  a 
spirit  of  derogation  from  the  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
He  afterward  proved  himself  before  the  world  a  pure,  brave, 
honest  man,  faithful  to  his  arduous  task,  and  laying  down  his 
life  at  the  last  as  a  penalty  for  his  country's  safety.  At  the 
same  time,  it  is  the  duty  of  history,  in  dealing  with  all  human 
action,  to  do  strict  justice  in  discriminating  between  persons, 
and  by  no  means  to  award  to  one  honors  that  clearly  belong 
to  another.  I  must,  then,  affirm  without  hesitation  that,  in 
the  history  of  our  Government  down  to  this  hour,  no  experi 
ment  so  rash  has  ever  been  made  as  that  of  elevating  to  the 
head  of  affairs  a  man  with  so  little  previous  preparation  for 
his  task  as  Mr.  Lincoln.  If  this  be  true  of  him  in  regard 
to  the  course  of  domestic  administration,  with  which  he 
might  be  supposed  partially  familiar,  it  is  eminently  so  in 
respect  to  the  foreign  relations,  of  which  he  knew  absolutely 
nothing.  Furthermore,  he  was  quite  deficient  in  his  ac 
quaintance  with  the  character  and  qualities  of  public  men, 
or  their  aptitude  for  the  positions  to  which  he  assigned  them. 
Indeed,  he  never  selected  them  solely  by  that  standard.  Ad 
mitting  this  to  be  an  accurate  statement,  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  Mr.  Seward  on  his  assuming  the  duties  of  the 
foreign  department  may  be  readily  imagined.  The  imme 
diate  reorganization  of  the  service  abroad  was  imperatively 
demanded  at  all  points.  The  chief  posts  had  been  filled 
before  that  time  with  persons  either  lukewarm  in  the  strug 
gle  or  else  positively  sympathizing  with  the  disaffected. 
One  consequence  had  been  the  formation  of  impressions 
upon  the  representatives  of  foreign  governments  calculated 
in  some  measure  to  mislead  their  policy.  Some  were  not 
unwilling  to  assume  the  question  as  already  predetermined, 
and  to  prepare  to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  result  of 
a  divided  sovereignty.  Others  wTere  inclined  only  to  watch 
the  phenomena  attending  the  dissolution,  in  order  to  adapt 
their  policy  to  the  variations,  and  take  advantage  of  oppor- 


30  ADDRESS  OF 

tunities.     Besides  which,  the  failure  of  the  greatest  experi 
ment  of  self-government  ever  made  by  a  people  was  not 
without  its  effect  upon   every  calculation   of  possibilities 
nearer  home.     It  may,  then,  be  easily  conceived  what  an 
effect  could  be  produced  in  all  quarters  by  the  equivocal, 
half-hearted  tone  prevailing  among  the  American   agents 
themselves.     Yet,  assuming  it  to  be  indispensable  that  the 
foreign  service  should  be  reorganized,  a  very  grave  difficulty 
forthwith  presented  itself.     The  Republican  party  had  been 
so  generally  in  opposition  that  but  few  of  its  prominent 
members  had  had  any  advantages  or  experience  in  office. 
And,  in  the  foreign  service  especially,  experience  is  almost 
indispensable  to  usefulness.     Mr.  Seward  himself  came  into 
the  State  Department  with  no  acquaintance  with  the  forms 
of  business  other  than  that  obtained  incidentally  through 
his  service  in  the  Senate.     He  had  not  had  the  benefit  of 
official  presence  abroad,  an  advantage  by  no  means  trifling 
in  conducting  the  foreign  affairs.     A  still  greater  difficulty 
was  that,  within  the  range  of  selection  to  till  the  respective 
posts  abroad,  hardly  any -person  could  be  found  better  pro 
vided  in  this  respect  than  himself.     Moreover,  the  Presi 
dent,  in  distributing  his  places,  did  so  with  small  reference 
to  the  qualifications  in  this  particular  line.     It  was  either 
partisan  service,  or  geographical  position,  or  the  length  of 
the  lists  of  names  to  commendatory  papers,  or  the  size  of 
the  salary,  or  the  unblushing  pertinacity  of  personal  solici 
tation,  that  wrung  from  him  many  of  his  appointments. 
Yet,  considering  the  nature  of  all  these  obstacles,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  most  of  the  neophytes  acquitted  themselves 
of  their  duty  with  far  more  of  credit  than  could  have  been 
fairly  expected  from  the  commencement.     I  attribute  this 
good  fortune  mainly  to  the  sense  of  heavy  responsibility 
stimulated  by  the  peril  of  the  country,  and  the  admirable 
lead  given  by  their  chief.    'The  marvellous  fertility  of  his 
pen  spread  itself  at  once  over  every  important  point  on  the 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  31 

globe,  and  the  lofty  firmness  of  his  tone  infused  a  spirit  of 
unity  of  action  such  as  had  never  been  witnessed  before. 
The  effect  of  this  was  that,  from  a  state  of  utter  demoraliza-^ 
tion  at  the  outset,  the  foreign  service  rapidly  became  the 
most  energetic  and  united  organization  thus  far  made 
abroad.  The  evidence  of  this  will  remain  patent  in  the 
archives  of  the  nation  so  long  as  they  shall  be  suffered  to 
endure.  It  may  be  questioned  whether  any  head  of  an 
executive  department  ever  approached  Mr.  Seward  in  the 
extent  and  minuteness  of  the  instructions  he  was  constantly 
issuing  during  the  critical  period  of  the  war.  While  neces 
sarily  subject  to  imperfection  consequent  upon  the  rapidity 
with  which  he  wrote,  his  papers  will  occasion  rather  surprise 
at  their  general  excellence  than  at  any  casual  defects  they 
may  contain.  Exception  has  been  taken  to  his  manner  on 
some  occasions  as  not  in  the  best  taste.  And  wiseacres  have 
commented  on  his  failure  of  sagacity  in  making  over-confi 
dent  predictions.  But  what  was  he  to  do  in  the  face  of  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  ?  Was  it  to  doubt,  and  qualify, 
and  calculate  probabilities?  Would  such  a  course  have 
helped  to  win  their  confidence  ?  I  trow  not.  Even  in  the 
darkest  hour  his  clarion- voice  rang  out  more  sharp  and  clear 
in  full  faith  of  the  triumph  of  the  great  cause  than  even  in 
the  moment  of  its  complete  success.  And  the  consequence 
is,  that  the  fame  of  William  H.  Seward  as  a  sagacious  states 
man  is  more  widely  spread  over  every  part  of  the  globe  than 
that  of  any  preceding  statesman  in  our  history.  But,  great 
as  were  the  services  of  Mr.  Seward  in  his  own  peculiar  de 
partment,  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  infer  that  they  were  re 
stricted  within  that  limit. 

I  now  come  to  a  point  where  what  appears  to  me  to 
have  been  one  of  his  greatest  qualities,  is  to  be  set  forth. 
It  is  impossible  for  two  persons  in  the  relations  of  the 
President  and  the  Secretary  of  State,  to  go  on  long  to 
gether  without  taking  a  measure  of  their  respective  powers. 


32  ADDRESS   OF 

Mr.  Lincoln  could  not  fail  soon  to  perceive  the  fact  that, 
whatever  estimate  he  might  put  on  his  own  natural  judg 
ment,  he  had  to  deal  with  a  superior  in  native  intellectual 
power,  in  extent  of  acquirement,  in  breadth  of  philosophi 
cal  experience,  and  in  the  force  of  moral  discipline.  On 
the  other  hand,  Mr.  Seward  could  not  have  been  long  blind 
to  the  deficiencies  of  the  chief  in  these  respects,  however 
highly  he  might  value  his  integrity  of  purpose,  his  shrewd 
capacity,  and  his  generous  arid  amiable  disposition.  The 
effect  of  these  reciprocal  discoveries  could  scarcely  have 
been  other  than  to  undermine  confidence,  and  to  inspire 
suspicion  in  the  weaker  party  of  danger  from  the  influence 
of  the  stronger.  He  might  naturally  become  jealous  of 
the  imputation  of  being  led,  and  fearful  lest  the  labors  of 
his  secretary  might  be  directed  to  his  own  aggrandizement 
at  his  expense.  On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Seward  might  not 
find  it  difficult  to  penetrate  the  character  of  these  specula 
tions,  and  foresee  their  probable  effect  in  abridging  his  pow 
ers  of  usefulness,  and,  perhaps,  unsettling  the  very  founda 
tion  of  his  position,  should  ambitious  third  parties  scent 
the  opportunities  to  edge  him  out.  Whether  all  that  I  have 
here  described  did  or  did  not  happen,  I  shall  not  be  so  bold 
as  to  say.  But  one  thing  I  know,  and  this  was,  that,  in  or 
der  to  cut  up  by  the  roots  the  possibility  of  misunderstand 
ing  from  such  causes,  Mr.  Seward  deliberately  came  to  the 
conclusion  to  stifle  every  sensation  left  in  him  of  aspiration 
in  the  future,  by  establishing  a  distinct  understanding  with 
the  President  on  that  subject.  The  effect  of  this  act  of 
self-abnegation  was  soon  apparent  in  the  steady  subsequent 
union  of  the  parties.  Thus  it  happened  that  Mr.  Seward 
voluntarily  dismissed  forever  the  noblest  dreams  of  an  am 
bition  he  had  the  clearest  right  to  indulge,  in  exchange  for 
a  more  solid  power  to  direct  affairs  for  the  benefit  of  the 
nation,  through  the  name  of  another,  who  should  yet  appear 
in  all  later  time  to  reap  the  honors  due  chiefly  to  his  labors. 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  33 

I  am  not  going  to  touch  upon  the  incidents  of  the  great 
war.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  Gettysburg  and  Yicksburg 
turned  the  tide;  and  the  Administration  had  nothing  more 
to  fear  from  popular  distrust.  The  election  confirmed  it  in 
power,  and  little  was  left  to  do  but  to  heal  the  wounds  in 
flicted,  and  restore  the  blessed  days  of  peace  and  prosperity. 
Scarcely  had  the  necessary  measures  been  matured,  and 
Fortune  begun  once  more  to  smile,  when  the  hand  of  the  as 
sassin,  unerring  in  its  instinctive  sagacity,  vented  all  the 
rage  of  the  baffled  enemy  upon  the  heads  of  the  two  indi 
viduals,  of  all  others,  who  most  distinctly  symbolized  the 
emancipation  of  the  slave  and  the  doom  of  the  master's 
pride.  Then  followed  a  successor  to  the  chair,  sadly  want 
ing  in  the  happiest  qualities  of  his  predecessor,  but  readily 
moulded  to  the  very  same  policy  which  had  been  inaugu 
rated  by  him.  In  his  earnestness  to  save  it,  Mr.  Seward 
subordinated  himself  just  as  before.  But  the  change  of 
person  proved  little  less  disastrous  to  his  hopes  than  it  had 
been  sixteen  years  before  in  the  case  of  General  •  Taylor. 
Nevertheless,  he  steadily  and  bravely  adhered  to  the  chief, 
for  the  sake  of  the  policy,  to  the  last,  and  quietly  bore  the 
odium  of  a  failure  he  had  no  power  to  avert.  It  would 
have  been  worth  all  it  cost,  could  he  have  succeeded.  But, 
as  it  was,  rarely  has  it  been  the  fate  of  the  same  statesman 
to  meet  with  two  successive  instances  of  such  human  vicis 
situdes. 

In  the  spring  of  1869  he  bade  a  last  farewell  to  public 
life.  The  veteran  who  had  fought  for  years  for  the  estab 
lishment  of  the  great  principles  of  liberty,  clear  of  all 
hampering  compromises,  who  bore  on  his  front  the  gash  re 
ceived  because  he  had  worked  too  well — a  scar  which  would 
have  made  a  life-long  political  fortune  for  any  purely  mili 
tary  man — was  permitted  to  repair  in  silence  to  his  home, 
now  lonely  from  the  loss  of  those  who  had  made  it  his  de 
light,  with  fewer  marks  of  recognition  of  his  brilliant  career 


3-i  ADDRESS  OF 

than  he  would  have  had  if  he  had  been  the  most  insignifi 
cant  of  our  Presidents.  Such  is  one  more  example  of  the 
fate  that  awaits  "  those  who  hang  on  princes'  favors," 
whether  the  sovereign  be  one  or  be  many.  And  now  his 
native  State,  having  bestowed  on  him  all  the  honors  within 
her  gift  during  his  life,  with  a  natural  pride  in  the  pareer 
of  so  great  a  son,  has  sought  outside  of  her  borders  for  one 
of  the  humblest  of  his  disciples  to  cull  a  few  fleeting  flow 
ers  and  place  them  on  his  grave.  While  I  do  honor  to  this 
manifestation  on  her  part,  I  trust  I  may  be  pardoned  for 
remembering  that  he  did  not  save  the  State  alone — he  saved 
the  nation. 

Let  me  turn  from  this  subject  to  the  more  agreeable  task' 
of  pointing  out  to  you  some  peculiar  qualities  of  Mr.  Sew- 
ard,  which  merit  close  attention  in  any  view  taken  of  his 
character.  Of  these  the  most  marked  was  his  indomita 
ble  courage.  By  superficial  observers  among  his  contem 
poraries,  the  breadth  of  his  popular  theory  was  set  down 
as  little  more  than  the  agitation  not  unusual  with  most 

O 

of  our  ordinary  demogogues.  Hence  the  prejudices  more 
or  less  imbibed  by  many  of  his  own  party,  and  others  who 
knew  nothing  of  him  personally.  Yet  the  fact  is  indisputa 
ble  that  very  few  public  men  in  our  history  can  be  cited 
who  have  shown  so  much  indifference,  in  running  directly 
counter  to  the  popular  passions  when  highly  excited,  as  he 
did.  And  in  such  action  it  is  clear  that  he  could  have  been 
prompted  by  no  motive  other  than  the  highest  of  personal 
duty. 

Hitherto,  I  have  treated  only  of  his  public  life.  I  now 
propose  to  touch  on  his  professional  career,  to  which,  though 
not  attractive  to  him,  he  steadily  adhered  so  long  as  it  was 
practicable.  Had  he  devoted  himself  to  it  exclusively,  I 
have  not  a  shadow  of  doubt  he  would  have  attained  a  posi 
tion  of  the  very  first  rank.  I  dwell  on  it  now  only  in  con 
nection  with  a  single  case  which  will  serve  to  illustrate  as 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  35 

well  his  courage  as  his  power.  This  is  the  case  of  the  mis 
erable  negro  William  Freeman.  The  fact  of  his  murdering 
at  night  all  the  members  of  a  highly-respectable  family  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Auburn,  without  any  apparent  motive, 
is  too  well  remembered  here  to  this  day  to  need  repeating 
the  horrible  details.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  the  passions 
of  the  people  in  all  the  country  round  about  were  fearfully 
but  not  unnaturally  aroused.  They  demanded  immediate 
justice  with  so' much  vehemence  that,  from  fear  of  violence, 
extraordinary  measures  were  resorted  to  by  the  State  au 
thorities  to  hasten  the  trial,  in  the  very  vicinity  of  the  out 
rage.  In  the  State-prison  at  Auburn  it  had  so  happened 
that,  shortly  before,  another  negro  convict  had  killed  one  of 
his  associates.  He  had  called  upon  Mr.  Seward  to  defend 
him  at  his  trial,  and  he  had  consented  to  appear.  This  act 
of  his  had  not  been  viewed  favorably  in  the  neighborhood. 
But,  when  the  crime  of  Freeman  was  soon  afterward  di 
vulged,  the  popular  indignation  rose  to  such  a  height  that 
it  was  with  much  difficulty  he  could  be  conveyed  in  safety 
to  the  jail.  So  great  was  the  rage,  that  nothing  but  the 
public  declaration  qf  one  of  the  county  judges,  made  on  the 
spot,  not  only  that  he  must  certainly  be  executed,  but  also 
that  "  no  Governor  Seward  would  interpose  to  defend  him," 
availed  to  shelter  him  from  summary  vengeance.  Imme 
diately  afterward,  the  law  partners  of  Mr.  Seward  assumed 
the  responsibility  of  confirming  that  promise  of  the  judge, 
without  consulting  him.  At  that  moment  Mr.  Seward  had 
happily  been  absent  from  home.  But,  when  he  was  ex 
pected  to  return,  there  was  great  anxiety  among  his  friends 
and  relatives,  lest  he  should  meet  with  insult,  if  not  posi 
tive  outrage,  in  his  transit  from  the  railway-station  to  his 
house.  The  excitement  had  scarcely  abated  when  the  twTo 
cases  came  up  for  trial.  In  the  first,  Mr.  Seward  endeav 
ored  to  procure  a  postponement,  but  it  was  in  vain.  The 
popular  feeling  would  not  submit  to  it.  "With  the  utmost 


36  ADDRESS   OF 

difficulty  were  persons  found  fitted  to  make  a  jury,  The 
argument  rested  on  the  insanity  of  the  prisoner.  But  it 
carried  no  weight.  Within  a  month  the  convict  was  tried, 
condemned,  and  executed.  In  this  instance  Mr.  Seward  had 
performed  his  part  in  the  regular  course  of  professional  ser 
vice.  But,  when  the  offence  of  the  wretched  creature  Free 
man  was  about  to  be  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  the 
court,  it  immediately  appeared  that  not  a  soul  of  the  large 
crowd  present  entertained  the  smallest  sympathy  for  him. 
He  was  told  that  he  might  have  the  assistance  of  counsel  if 
he  would  ask  for  it.  His  answer  indicated  utter  ignorance 
of  the  meaning  of  the  words.  Under  such  circumstances 
what  was  to  be  done  to  comply  with  forms  of  law  ?  There 
was  a  solemn  pause  in  that  thronged  assembly.  At  last  the 
silence  was  broken  by  the  judge,  who,  addressing  the  profes 
sional  men  before  him,  asked,  in  a  hopeless  tone,  "  Will  any 
one  defend  this  man  ?  " 

And  here  again  was  a  breathless  pause,  broken  at  last 
by  a  quiet  movement  of  a  solitary  man,  as  he  rose  in  his 
place,  who,  in  the  face  of  the  eager  crowd,  briefly  replied, 
"  May  it  please  the  court,  I  appear  as  counsel  for  the  pris 
oner." 

This  volunteer  was  William  Henry  Seward,  the  very 
man  whom,  the  excited  multitude  had  already  warned  not 
to  interpose  to  defend  him. 

I  know  not  wThat  others  may  think  of  this  simple  pict 
ure,  but,  in  my  humble  view,  it  presents  a  scene  of  moral 
sublimity  rarely  to  be  met  with  in  the  paths  of  our  ordinary 
existence.  At  this  juncture,  had  William  II.  Seward  been 
found  anywhere  at  night  alone,  and  unprotected  by  the 
powerful  law-abiding  habits  of  the  region  about  him,  his 
body  would  probably  have  been  discovered  in  the  morning 
hanging  from  the  next  tree.  What  motive  could  have  im 
pelled  him  to  encounter  so  much  indignation  for  this  act  ? 
He  had  been  not  at  all  insensible  to  the  pleasure  of  popu- 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  37 

larity  in  public  life.  Here  lie  was  not  only  injuring  his  own 
interests,  but  that  of  the  party  with  which  he  was  associ 
ated.  In  vain  did  it  labor  to  disavow  all  connection  or 
sympathy  with  him.  The  press  on  all  sides  thundered  its 
denunciations  over  his  head.  The  elections  all  wrent  one 
way.  The  Democratic  party  came  sweepingly  into  the  as 
cendant.  And  all  about  the  life  of  a  negro  idiot !  I  think 
I  do  not  exaggerate  in  expressing  my  humble  opinion,  that 
the  argument  in  the  defence  is  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
ever  made  in  the  language.  I  have  no  time  to  dwell  on  it, 
further  than  to  quote  a  few  passages  assigning  his  reason 
for  his  conduct :  u  For  William  Freeman  as  a  murderer,  I 
have  no  commission  to  speak.  If  he  had  silver  and  gold  ac 
cumulated,  with  the  frugality  of  a  Croesus,  and  should  pour 
it  all  at  my  feet,  I  would  not  stand  an  hour  between  him 
and  his  avenger.  But  for  the  innocent,  it  is  my  right — it  is 
my  duty — to  speak.  If  this  sea  of  blood  was  innocently 
shed,  then  it  is  my  duty  to  stand  beside  him,  until  his  steps 
lose  their  hold  upon  the  scaffold.  4  Thou  shalt  not  kill '  is 
a  commandment,  addressed  not  to  him  alone,  but  to  me,  to 
yon,  to  the  court,  and  to  the  whole  community.  There  are 
no  exceptions  from  that  commandment,  at  least,  in  civiL 
life,  save  those  of  self-defence,  and  capital  punishment  for 
crime  in  the  due  and  just  administration  of  the  law.  There 
is  not  only  a  question,  then,  whether  the  prisoner  has  shed 
the  blood  of  his  fellow-man,  but  the  question  whether  we 
shall  unlawfully  shed  his  blood.  I  should  be  guilty  of  mur 
der  if,  in  my  present  relation,  I  saw  the  executioner  waiting 
for  an  insane  man,  and  failed  to  say,  or  failed  to  do,  in  his 
behalf,  all  that  my  ability  allowed." 

And  again  he  says  :  "  I  am  arraigned  before  you  for 
undue  manifestations  of  zeal  and  excitement.  My  answer 
to  all  such  charges  shall  be  brief.  When  this  cause  shall 
have  been  committed  to  yon,  I  shall  be  happy  indeed  if  it 
shall  appear  that  my  only  error  has  been  that  I  felt  too 


38  ADDRESS  OF 

much,  thought  too  intensely,  or  acted  too  faithfully."  But 
the  significant  and  most  eloquent  passage  is  this  :  "  I  plead 
not  for  a  murderer.  I  have  no  inducement,  no  motive  to 
do  so.  I  have  addressed  my  fellow-citizens  in  many  various 
relations,  when  rewards  of  wealth  and  fame  awaited  me.  I 
have  "been  cheered  on  other  occasions  by  manifestations  of 
popular  approbation  and  sympathy ;  and,  where  there  was 
no  such  encouragement,  I  had  at  least  the  gratitude  of  him 
whose  cause  I  defended.  But  I  speak  now  in  the  hearing 
of  a  people  who  have  prejudged  the  prisoner,  and  con 
demned  me  for  pleading  in  his  behalf.  He  is  a  convict,  a 
pauper,  a  negro,  without  intellect,  sense,  or  emotion.  My 
child,  with  an  affectionate  smile,  disarms  my  care-worn  face 
of  its  frown  whenever  I  cross  my  threshold.  The  beggar 
in  the  street  obliges  me  to  give,  because  he  says  c  God  bless 
you  '  as  I  pass.  My  dog  caresses  me  with  fondness  if  I  will 
but  smile  on  him.  My  horse  recognizes  me  when  I  fill  his 
manger.  But  what  reward,  what  gratitude,  what  sympathy 
and  affection  can  I  expect  here  ?  There  the  prisoner  sits. 
Look  at  him.  Look  at  the  assemblage  around  you.  Listen 
to  their  ill-suppressed  censures  and  their  excited  fears,  and 
tell  me  where  among  my  neighbors  or  my  fellow-men,  where 
even  in  his  heart  can  I  expect  to  find  the  sentiment,  the 
thought,  not  to  say  of  reward  or  acknowledgment,  but 
even  of  recognition.  I  sat  here  two  weeks  during  the  pre 
liminary  trial.  I  stood  here  between  the  prisoner  and  the 
jury  nine  hours,  and  pleaded  for  the  wretch  that  he  was 
insane,  and  he  did  not  even  know  he  was  on  trial.  And 
when  all  was  done,  the  jury  thought,  at  least  eleven  of  them 
thought,  that  I  had  been  deceiving  them,  or  was  self-de 
ceived.  They  read  signs  of  intelligence  in  his  idiotic  smile, 
and  of  cunning  and  malice  in  his  stolid  insensibility.  They 
rendered  a  verdict  that  {  he  was  sane  enough  to  be  tried  '- 
a  contemptible  compromise  verdict  in  a  capital  case — and 
then  they  looked,  with  what  emotions  God  and  they  only 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  39 

know,  upon  liis  arraignment.  The  District  Attorney,  speak 
ing  in  his  adder-ear,  bade  him  rise,  and,  reading  to  him  one 
indictment,  asked  him  whether  he  wanted  a  trial,  and  the 
poor  fool  answered  4  No.'  '  Have  you  counsel  ? '  '  No.' 
And  they  went  through  the  same  mockery,  the  prisoner 
giving  the  same  answers,  until  a  third  indictment  was 
thundered  in  his  ears,  and  he  stood  before  the  court  silent, 
motionless,  and  bewildered.  Gentlemen,  you  may  think  of 
this  evidence,  bring  in  what  verdict  you  can,  but  I  assever 
ate  before  Heaven  and  you  that,  to  the  best  of  my  knowl 
edge  and  belief,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  does  not  at  this  mo 
ment  know  why  it  is  that  my  shadow  falls  on  you  instead 
of  his  own.  I  speak  with  all  sincerity  and  earnestness,  not 
because  I  expect  my  opinion  to  have  weight,  but  I  would 
disarm  the  injurious  impression  that  I  am  speaking  merely 
as  a  lawyer  speaks  for  his  client.  I  am  not  the  prisoner's 
lawyer.  I  am,  indeed,  a  volunteer  in  his  behalf.  But  so 
ciety  and  mankind  have  the  deepest  interests  at  stake.  I 
am.  the  lawyer  for  society,  for  mankind,  shocked  beyond  the 
power  of  expression  at  the  scene  I  have  witnessed  here,  of 
trying  a  maniac  as  a  malefactor." 

There  cannot  be  a  doubt  that,  in  this  statement  of  his 
motives,  Mr.  Seward  uttered  nothing  more  than  the  simple 
truth.  It  was  to  rescue  from  violation  the  broad  principle 
of  morals,  that  guilt  can  only  be  measured  by  responsibility 
in  the  reciprocal  relations  of  the  human  race.  Yet,  the 
jury  brought  in  a  verdict  against  the  prisoner,  and  the 
judge  pronounced  the  sentence  of  execution.  Nothing 
daunted  by  all  this,  Mr.  Seward  persisted  in  interposing 
every  possible  dilatory  measure,  until  the  evidence  of  the 
condition  of  the  man  gradually  forced  itself  so  vividly  upon 
the  conviction  of  the  very  judge  who  had  tried  and  con 
demned  him,  that,  when  officially  called  upon  to  go  over 
the  work  once  more,  he  declined  it  as  impracticable.  Mr. 
Seward  was  now  clearly  proved  to  have  been  right,  so  far 


40  ADDRESS  OF 

as  his  action  liad  gone  before  the  law.  But,  when  the  time 
came  for  the  end  of  Freeman  by  a  natural  death,  seven 
physicians  of  the  vicinity  were  summoned  to  a  post-mortem 
examination  of  his  brain,  and  the  result  at  which  they  ar 
rived  was  that  it  displayed  indications  of  deep  chronic  dis 
ease.  Mr.  Seward  had  been  right  from  the  start.  He  had 
upheld  a  broad  general  principle  at  enormous  personal  haz 
ard,  and  he  never  received  the  smallest  return  for  it,  ex 
cepting  in  the  satisfaction  to  his  own  conscience  of  a  work 
faithfully  performed. 

I  pass  from  this  illustration  of  the  resolute  will  and 
courage  of  the  man,  to  another  of  wholly  different  and  a 
still  higher  kind.  I  shall  not  weary  your  patience  by  going 
over  the  well-known  details  of  the  seizure  by  our  gallant 
countryman,  Admiral  Wilkes,  of  the  two  rebel  emissaries, 
Mason  and  Slidell,  by  forcibly  taking  them  from  a  British 
passenger-steamer,  then  on  her  way  over  the  high-seas  to  a 
British  port.  You  can  all  remember  how  much  delighted 
everybody  was  with  the  news.  Few  stopped  to  think  of 
the  possible  consequences  as  affecting  the  rights  of  neutral 
nations.  Some  erroneous  precedents  were  published  in  the 
journals  which  quieted  possible  doubts.  Admiral  Wilkes 
immediately  received  the  official  approbation  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  and  the  Secretary  of  the  ]S"avy,  and  rose 
in  a  moment  to  the  height  of  a  popular  hero.  Crowded 
public  meetings  everywhere  joined  in  their  acclamations, 
proudly  exultant  at  the  gallant  deed.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  effect  of  the  violent  proceeding,  when  divulged  in  Great 
Britain,  no  one  had  a  better  opportunity  to  understand  than 
I  myself.  It  was  at  once  presumed  to  have  been  authorized 
by  the  Government,  so  that  no  course  was  regarded  as  left  to 
the  ministry  other  than  to  demand  immediate  satisfaction  for 
the  insult.  "War  was  considered  as  inevitable ;  hence,  provi 
sion  was  promptly  made  by  many  to  remove  American  prop 
erty  out  of  the  risk  of  confiscation.  The  dock-yards  resound- 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  41 

eel  by  night  as  well  as  by  day  with  the  ring  of  the  hammers, 
fitting  out  the  largest  iron-clads,  and  orders  went  forth  to 
assemble  the  most  available  troops  for  immediate  embarka 
tion  to  the  points  in  America  closest  upon  our  northern  bor 
der.  A  cabinet  council  was  promptly  assembled.  Four 
dispatches  were  drawn  up  on  the  same  day,  the  30th  of  No 
vember,  three  of  them  addressed  to  the  British  minister  at 
Washington,  Lord  Lyons,  and  one  to  the  Lords  Commission 
ers  of  the  Admiralty.  All  of  them  distinctly  anticipated 
an  immediate  rupture,  and  made  provision  for  the  event. 
One  of  these,  very  carefully  prepared,  instructed  Lord  Lyons 
to  protest  against  the  offensive  act,  and,  in  case  the  Secretary 
of  State  should  not  voluntarily  offer  redress  by  a  delivery 
of  the  men,  to  make  a  demand  of  their  restoration.  The 
second  directed  Lord  Lyons  to  permit  of  no  delay  of  an 
affirmative  answer  beyond  seven  days.  Should  no  such 
answer  appear  within  that  time,  his  lordship  was  formally 
instructed  to  withdraw  with  all  his  legation  and  all  the 
archives  of  the  legation,  and  to  made  the  best  of  his  way  to 
London.  The  fourth  letter,  addressed  to  the  Admiralty, 
contained  instructions  to  prepare  all  the  naval  officers  sta 
tioned  in  America  for  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities. 

Looking  at  these  proceedings  as  calmly  as  I  can  from  our 
present  point  of  view,  it  seems  impossible  for  me  to  doubt 
that  the  issue  of  this  peremptory  demand  had  been  already 
prejudged  by  her  Majesty's  ministers.  They  did  not  them 
selves  believe  that  the  men  would  be  restored.  Hence  what 
seems  to  me  the  needless  offensiveness  of  these  prelimina 
ries,  prompted,  no  doubt,  by  the  violence  of  the  popular 
feeling,  which  would  insist  upon  an  immediate  display  of 
what  would  be  called  a  "  proper  spirit."  Yet,  had  it  been 
judged  proper  to  await  for  a  few  days  the  reception  of  offi 
cial  intelligence,  then  on  its  way  from  Washington,  these 
gentlemen  would  have  learned  from  Mr.  Seward  that  they 
were  precipitate  in  their  action  at  least,  and  wholly  without 


42  ADDRESS  OF 

a  basis  in  presuming  evil  intentions.  Moreover,  they  would 
.  have  had  the  assurance  that  the  act  was  without  authority, 
and  that  the  Government  was  ready  to  listen  to  any  reason 
able  representation  that  might  be  forthcoming.  It  thus  ap 
pears  that  her  Majesty's  Government  had  placed  themselves 
at  the  outset  in  a  false  position,  needlessly  offensive,  and 
only  provocative  of  war  without  a  cause.  For  the  per 
emptory  nature  of  the  overture,  however  clothed  in  mod 
erate  terms,  merely  complicated  the  difficulty  of  responding 
in  any  tone  that  would  at  all  quiet  the  excited  temper  of 
the  American  people.  It  was  the  writing  of  that  pre 
liminary  dispatch  that  saved  the  dignity  of  the  country.  Mr. 
Seward  could  point  to  it  to  prove  that  his  action,  when 
finally  taken,  had  not  been  prompted  by  intimidation.  The 
precipitate  British  course  had  betrayed  the  rudeness  of  dis 
trust,  and  nothing:  more.  He  had  been  ready  to  hear  and 

O  */ 

discuss  the  question  impartially,  and  solely  on  its  merits. 
But  the  people  of  the  United  States  had  thought  of  none  of 
these  things.  They  were  satisfied  with  the  fancied  glory  of 
the  deed,  and  very  far  from  disposed  to  sanction  the  small 
est  recantation.  As  to  the  demand  for  the  surrender  of  the 
men,  the  thing  was  not  to  be  thought  of.  They  must  be  re 
tained  at  any  hazard.  Such  was  the  universal  sense,  and  it 
is  this  which  generally  controls  the  actions  of  those  who 
hold  office  in  a  popular  government.  Yet  the  fact  was  to 
me  clear  from  the  first  that  the  act  was  not  justifiable. 
Many  of  the  most  enlightened  neutral  nations  had  signified 
as  much  in  a  friendly  way,  and  had  wished  to  open  to  us 
some  easy  method  of  retreat.  A  war  with  Great  Britain  to 
maintain  an  unsound  principle,  merely  because  the  people 
made  a  hero  of  Admiral  Wilkes,  would  probably  have  ended 
in  a  triumph  of  the  rebellion  and  a  permanent  disruption 
of  the  Union,  furnishing  ever  after  a  new  example  with 
which  "  to  point  a  moral  and  adorn  a  tale."  When  the  time 
cam  3  for  the  assembly  of  the  cabinet  to  decide  upon  an  an- 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  43 

swer  to  Great  Britain,  not  a  sign  had  been  given  by  the 
President  or  any  of  the  members  favorable  to  concession. 
Mr.  Seward,  who  had  been  charged  with  the  official  duty 
of  furnishing  the  expected  answer,  assumed  the  responsi 
bility  of  preparing  his  able  argument  upon  which  a  deci 
sion  was  predicated  to  surrender  the  men.  Upon  him  would 
have  rested  the  whole  weight  of  the  popular  indignation  had 
it  proved  formidable.  If  I  have  been  rightly  informed, 
when  read,  it  met  with  but  few  comments  and  less  approba 
tion.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  no  resistance.  Silence 
gave  consent.  It  was  the  act  of  Mr.  Seward,  and  his  name 
was  to  be  chiefly  associated  with  it,  whether  for  good  or  for 
evil.  That  name  will  ever  stand  signed  at  the  foot  of  the 
dispatch.  In  my  firm  belief,  that  act  saved  the  unity  of  the 
nation.  It  was  like  the  fable  of  the  Roman  Curtius,  who 
leaped  into  the  abyss  which  could  have  been  closed  in  no 
other  way.  The  people  acquiesced  rather  than  approved, 
and  to  this  day  they  have  never  manifested  any  sign  of  grati 
tude  whatever. 

In  1869  Mr.  Seward  returned  home  to  Auburn,  the 
wreck  of  his  former  self.  The  continuous  conflicts  of  twenty 
years,  and  especially  those  of  the  last  eight,  with  the  assas 
sin's  knife,  had  told  heavily  on  his  frame.  That  home,  too, 
was  no  longer  what  it  had  been,  when  the  gifted  partner  of 
his  life  and  a  beloved  daughter  spread  over  it  sunshine  and 
joy,  in  peaceful  times.  Worst  of  all,  the  symptoms  of  a 
subtle  disease,  creeping  slowly  from  the  extremities,  came 
to  warn  him  that  repose  would  be  synonymous  with  decay. 
Nothing  daunted,  he  determined  to  fight  the  enemy  to  the 
last.  He  undertook  the  laborious  task  of  a  journey  around 
the  globe.  "What  he  modestly  and  yet  sadly  says  of  it  him 
self  is  found  in  the  reply  he  made  to  the  welcome  given  him 
by  his  neighbors  and  friends  on  his  return  :  "  I  have  had  a 
long  journey,  which,  in  its  inception,  seemed  to  many  to  be 
eccentric,  but  I  trust  that  all  my  neighbors  and  friends  are 


44  ADDRESS   OF 

now  satisfied  that  it  was  reasonable.  I  found  that,  in  re 
turning  home  to  the  occupations  which  were  before  me,  I 
was  expected  to  enjoy  rest  from  labors  and  cares  which  wrere 
thought  to  have  been  oppressive  and  severe.  I  found  that, 
at  my  age,  and  in  my  condition  of  health,  <  rest  was  rust,' 
and  nothing  remained  to  prevent  rust  but  to  keep  in  motion. 
I  selected  the  way  that  would  do  the  least  harm,  give  the 
least  offence,  enable  me  to  acquire  the  most  knowledge,  and 
increase  the  power,  if  any  remained,  to  do  good."  The  vol 
ume  from  which  I  quote,  containing  a  very  interesting  ac 
count  of  the  travels  of  Mr.  Seward,  has  been  issued  to  the 
world  since  his  decease.  The  turn  of  his  mind,  ever  indulg 
ing  in  wide  speculation  upon  the  objects  presented  to  his 
observation,  is  as  clearly  marked  in  this  as  it  is  in  any  of  his 
earlier  productions.  Hence  it  is  clear  that,  however  im 
paired  may  have  been  his  tenement  of  clay,  the  living  prin 
ciple  within  held  out  firmly  to  the  last.  This  book  likewise 
shows,  though  expressed  in  very  modest  language,  that  the 
fame  of  the  great  statesman  had  reached  the  remotest  and 
most  exclusive  nations  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere,  and  had 
won  for  him — a  simple  private  citizen — spontaneous  recog 
nitions  such  as  heretofore,  in  those  communities,  have  been 
extorted  only  by  representatives  of  those  sovereignties  which 
they  fear. 

And  now  the  chief  part  of  my  work  is  done.  I  have 
tried  to  test  the  statesman  by  the  highest  standard  known  to 
mankind.  His  career  covers  the  whole  of  what  I  designate 
as  the  second  period  of  our  history — that,  pending  which, 
the  heaviest  clog  to  freedom,  a  perilous  legacy  from  our  fore 
fathers,  was,  after  long  and  severe  conflict,  at.  last  happily 
removed.  In  this  trial  Mr.  Seward  played  a  great  part. 
His  mind,  taking  in  the  broadest  view  of  practical  popular 
government,  never  failed  him  in  the  useful  application  of  his 
powers  to  the  removal  of  all  adventitious  obstructions  to  its 
development.  He  was  never  a  mere  theorist  or  dreamer  of 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  45 

possibilities  he  could  not  reach.  He  speculated  boldly,  but 
he  was  an  actor  all  the  while,  and  effected  results.  It  is  in 
this  sense  that  I  think  my  narrative  has  established  for  him 
a  just  claim  to  the  high  position  I  assigned  to  him  at  my 
outset,  lie  may  not,  indeed,  rise  to  the  full  stature  of  the 
philosopher-statesman,  "  equal  to  the  present,  reaching  for 
ward  to  the  future,"  never  seen  even  in  the  palmy  days  of 
ancient  Greece,  or  perhaps  anywhere  else,  but  at  least  he 
stands  in  the  first  rank  of  those  admitted  most  nearly  to  ap 
proach  it. 

But  thus  far  I  have  considered  him  exclusively  in  his* 
public  life.  The  picture  would  scarcely  seem  complete,  if 
I  omitted,  a  word  about  him  as  a  man  like  all  the  rest  of 
us.  By  nature  he  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  been  gifted 
with  the  advantage  of  an  imposing  presence,  such  as  fell 
to  the  lot  of  Mr.  Calhoun  and  Mr.  "Webster.  Neither  in 
face  nor  in  figure  would  he  have  attracted  particular  no 
tice,  and  both  his  voice  and  power  of  articulation  were 
little  favorable  to  the  power  of  his  elocution.  Yet  he  had 
in  a  remarkable  degree  the  faculty  of  fixing  the  hearer's 
attention — the  surest  test  of  oratorical  superiority.  His 
familiar  conversation  rarely  kept  in  the  dreary  round  of 
commonplace,  and  often  struck  into  original  and  instruc 
tive  paths.  His  personal  address  was  easy  and  careless, 
sometimes  rather  blunt.  It  lacked  something  of  the  polish 
of  the  most  refined  society,  but  there  was  a  simplicity  and 
heartiness  in  his  genial  hours  that  often  brought  one  close  to 
him  in  a  moment.  At  times,  when  in  good  spirits,  there 
seemed  a  superabundant  glee,  which  spent  itself  in  laughter 
springing  from  his  own  thoughts,  more  robust  than  could  be 
wholly  accounted  for  by  any  thing  expressed.  And  yet  it 
had  a  sympathetic  power  over  the  hearers  almost  irresist 
ible.  In  his  domestic  relations  he  wTas  pure  and  affection 
ate — ready  to  heed  the  monitions  of  a  gifted  and  refined 
partner,  and  profit  by  her  prudent  counsel.  Unhappily, 


46  ADDRESS   OF 

her  infirm  health,  breeding  a  strong  inclination  for  retire 
ment  from  the  hustle  and  excitement  of  the  society  of  Wash 
ington,  materially  detracted  from  the  influence,  as  well  as 
the  satisfaction,  attending  her  husband's  elevated  position. 
Our  forefathers  would  marvel  could  they  imagine  it  possible 
for  me  to  claim  credit  for  Mr.  Seward  on  the  score  of  his 
honesty  as  a  public  man.  Yet  the  time  has  come  wlien  we 
must  honor  one  who  never  bought  nor  sold  a  vote  or  a  place, 
and  who  never  permitted  his  public  action  to  be  contami 
nated  in  the  atmosphere  of  corporation  influence.  On  that 
subject  I  had '  occasion  to  know  his  sentiments  more  than 
once.  Above  all,  he  was  earnestly  impressed  with  religious 
feeling,  never  making  parade  of  it,  but  never  omitting  every 
proper  occasion  to  make  it  properly  respected.  One  of  his 
finest  traits  was  the  calmness  with  which  he  endured  all  the 
various  political  assaults  made  upon  him  by  opponents,  and 
often  by  those  of  his  own  side.  Few  persons  of  his  time 
encountered  more.  It  is  the  nature  of  power  always  to 
raise  a  body  of  resistance  in  a  relative  proportion  to  the 
force  of  its  own  movement.  Then  came  also  the  day  of 
complaints  raised  by  the  large  class  fated  to  be  aggrieved 
by  disappointed  hopes  or  imagined  offences,  the  arrogant^ 
the  incompetent,  the  rapacious,  the  treacherous,  and  the 
unscrupulous,  always  to  be  found  intrenched  around  about 
every  fountain  of  political  favors.  Mr.  Seward  was  never 
tempted  to  elevate  the  position  of  such  persons  by  contro 
versy,  or  even  to  profit  by  opportunities  for  merited  retribu 
tion,  even  when  clearly  within  his  grasp.  To  his  intimate 
friends  he  was  deeply  attached.  One  of  these  who  survives 
him — may  I  say  his  fldus  Achates — 

"  It  comes  etparibus  curis  vestigia  figit," 

whose  singularly  disinterested  labor  it  has  been  to  effect  the 
elevation  of  others  to  power,  and  never  his  own,  and  to 
whose  remarkable  address  I  strongly  suspect  Mr.  Seward 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  47 

owed  many  obligations  of  that  kind,  has  been  obliging 
enough  to  submit  to  my  perusal  numbers  of  his  confidential 
letters,  received  during  interesting  periods  in  the  writer's 
life,  which  have  been  collected  and  bound  in  volumes.  I 
have  closely  examined  them,  as  laying  bare  the  most  secret 
impulses  of  his  mind  and  heart.  Yet,  highly  confidential  as 
they  appear  on  their  face  to  be,  I  could  not  detect  a  single 
passage  which,  for  his  sake,  "  I  could  wish  to  blot."  The 
line  of  great  statesnfen  in  America  may  or  may  not  stretch 


out, 


In  yon  bright  track  that  fires  the  western  skies," 


to  the  crack  of  doom.  But  the  memory  of  him  who  guided 
our  course,  through  the  most  appalling  tempest  yet  expe 
rienced  in  our  annals,  can  scarcely  fail  to  confront  all  future 
aspirants  in  the  same  honorable  career,  as  an  example  which 
every  one  of  them  may  imitate  to  his  advantage,  but  which 
few  can  hope  to  be  so  fortunate  as  to  excel. 


Opinions  of  the  Press  on  Mr.  Seward's  Travels. 

"  In  modern  books  of  travel  there  has  been  a  wide  departure  from  the  old- 
fashioned  simplicity  of  narration,  and  we  have,  in  its  place,  volumes  of  picturesque 
scene-painting  and  brilliant  epigram.  The  charm  of  the  present  work  is  its  straight 
forward  simplicity.  It  is  a  plain  and  unvarnished  record  of  what  Mr.  Seward  saw, 
together  with  occasional  reflections  upon  the  various  political  and  religious  problems 
that  came  under  his  observation.  The  narrative  has  very  much  of  the  interest  of 
the  books  of  travel  of  the  last  century.  There  is  not  the  slightest  attempt  at  fine 
writing  or  epigrammatic  brilliancy.  The  style  is  easy  and  familiar,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  possesses  a  certain  dignity  that  reminds  one  of  the  statesman  rather  than  the 
ordinary  explorer  or  the  professional  book-maker.  In  the  reflections  which  Mr. 
Seward  makes  upon  the  institutions  of  the  countries  which  he  visited,  the  cheerful 
optimism  of  his  character  is  as  evident  as  are  the  keen  insight  and  accurate  judgment 
of  the  man.  He  finds  good  in  every  nation  and  every  system  of  government,  and 
has  an  unfailing  faith  in  time  to  set  right  whatever  is  now  objectionable,  whether  in 
the  timid  tyranny  of  Chinese  precedent,  or  the  despotic  vigor  of  modern  Egyptian 
rule.  The  volume  will  be  a  welcome  addition  to  Mr.  Seward's  previously  published 
works.  In  them  we  have  the  record  of  his  public  life — a  life  full  of  toil  and  of 
triumph  honorably  won,  but  also  not  without  the  disappointments  that  are  the 
inevitable  lot  of  an  ambitious  statesman  and  patriot.  This  book  of  travels  shows 
that  the  last  years  of  his  life  were  probably  the  most  pleasant  and  satisfactory.  It 
gives  us  a  picture  of  the  tired  veteran,  surrounded  by  whatever  could  interest  and 
amuse  him,  and  free  from  the  slightest  shade  of  enmity  and  annoyance.  So  sunny 
and  cheerful  an  afternoon  rarely  awaits  the  man  whose  morning  and  noon  of  life 
have  been  spent  in  the  heat  and  dust  of  political  strife,  and  every  one,  who  reads  the 
volumes  that  contain  his  eloquent  speeches  and  his  able  state  papers,  will  be  glad  to 
find  that  after  these  comes  the  record  of  a  year  so  happily  and  profitably  passed. 
The  book  is  a  credit  to  the  typographical  skill  of  the  publishers,  and  is  illustrated 
with  some  of  the  best  specimens  of  recent  wood-engraving." — N.  Y.  Times. 

"  It  was  a  wonderful  journey,  and  Mr.  Seward's  name  and  fame  having  preceded 
him,  he  was  treated  with  all  the  honors  which  princes,  governors,  and  rulers,  could 
confer.  So  far  as  Mr.  Seward  and  his  party  were  concerned,  it  was  an  ovation  from 
the  commencement  to  the  close  of  the  journey.  The  journal  of  the  trip  we  suppose 
is  from  the  pen  of  Miss  Seward.  The  great  interest  of  the  work  is  not  merely  the 
memorandum  of  the  travels,  the  sights  seen  and  so  pleasantly  described,  but  in  the 
strong  sentiments — shall  we  call  them  doctrines  ? — which  find  their  places  from  Mr. 
Seward's  lips.  He  was  a  ripe  thinker,  a  thorough  republican,  and  all  governments 
and  usages  of  the  Old  World  were  brought  to  the  clear  test  of  his  convictions.  It  is 
Mr.  Seward  in  Japan,  in  China,  in  Batavia,  Madras,  Calcutta,  Delhi,  Bombay,  Egypt, 
Jerusalem,  Greece,  Hungary,  Austria,  Italy,  Switzerland,  France,  Germany,  and  Eng 
land,  and  it  is  the  spoken  sentiments  of  Mr.  Seward,  the  comparisons  which  he  insti 
tuted,  the  prophecies  which  he  uttered,  which  give  interest  to  the  volume.  Books 
of  travel  abound.  All  this  wide  track  around  the  world  has  been  impressed  upon 
the  printed  page,  and  we  never  tire  of  reading  the  old  story  by  the  new  author. 
But  this  volume  is  more  than  a  series  of  travelling  pictures ;  it  is  a  philosophy.  It 
is  the  delineation  of  systems  of  governments,  habits  and  usages  of  courts  and  peo 
ples,  brought  into  contact  with  the  simple  republicanism  of  this  century  as  exem 
plified  by  our  own  government,  and  a  master,  a  ripe  statesman,  a  philosopher,  and  a 
careful  thinker,  is  the  delineator.  Mr.  Seward  never  lost  his  balance,  never  appeared 
other  than  the  simple  republican  that  he  was.  Amid  all  the  trappings  of  royalty 
and  the  etiquette  of  courts  hoary  with  their  accretion  of  centuries,  Mr.  Seward  was 
always  the  simple,  plain,  American  citizen.  In  his  capacity  of  Secretary  of  State,  he 
had,  by  his  state  papers,  made  himself  honored  and  respected  in  the  courts  which 
so  welcomed  him  in  person,  but  he  was  as  much  the  simple  American  citizen  while 
in  the  presence  of  royalty  as  in  his  modest  office  at  Washington  or  his  pleasant  home 
in  Auburn.  His  thoughts  were  American,  and  his  prescience  of  the  growth  of  our 
country  and  its  institutions  made  him  a  political  prophet.  To  his  view  of  the  growth 
of  republican  ideas,  principles,  and  institutions,  he  brought  alike  the  double-headed 
governmental  system  of  Japan,  the  sacred  and  secluded  court  of  China,  and  all 
yther  governments  and  peoples  in  Asia  and  Europe.  It  is  his  thoughts  and  utter 
ances  which  clothe  this  volume  with  an  interest  to  the  American  reader  which  can 
be  found  in  no  volume  which  has  ever  preceded  it." — Providence  Daily  Press. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers,  549  &  551  Broadway,  N.  Y. 


Mr. 


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14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 
on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
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era,  turougn  tne  DOOK.     it  is  tne  last 

abor,  perhaps  the  last  relic,  of  an  eminent  and  patriotic  life.     No  man  of  Mr.  Sew- 
H  position  IM   America  has  undertaken  such  a  task,  or  left  such  a  work.     His 
name  will  g,ve  it  u  charm  for  thousands  of  readers  beyond  the  intrinsic  merit  of  the 
book  itself."— Providence  Daily  Journal.  W. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers,  549  &  551  Broadway,  N.  Y. 


Gaylamount 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

Gaylord  Bros..  Inc. 
Stockton,  Calif. 

T.  M.  Reg.  U.S.  Pat.  Off. 


YC  28013 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


